For many years, this was the only episode which was originally recorded and broadcast in colour but survived only as a monochrome film telerecording. In 2008, however, technical engineers restored the edition to full colour by utilising the colour signal information recorded into the film print. The possibility of restoring this episode to colour originated from the TV Preservation Specialist
James Insell, who had been watching an episode of
Doctor Who (1963) starring
Jon Pertwee which, like this episode of Dad's Army, only existed as a black and white film copy made from a master tape that had subsequently been wiped by the BBC. Insell had noticed colour interference appearing on the black and white film and thought it might be possible to use this colour information to restore episodes of series such as
Dad's Army (1968) and
Doctor Who (1963) back to full colour. On 11 December 2008, BBC television's
Newsnight (1980) broadcast an item which included an interview with Insell about the restoration of this episode to colour using this innovative process.