The seven-strong group of Hartlepool lads from the Hartlepool Military Heritage Memorial Society can be seen in the £15m Hovis advert to be shown on ITV1 tonight during the commercial break for Coronation Street.

The advert is the sequel to the bread firm's famous 1973 commercial about a boy carrying a loaf. Group members travelled to Liverpool earlier this year to film the advert, which is 122 seconds long, one for each year the firm has existed.

During filming for the advert, which is called Go On Lad, the Hartlepool group earned their crust by passing on their military skills to other extras on the set.

The group was among 200 uniformed extras posing as soldiers of the West Yorkshire Regiment heading off to France in 1914.Chairman Neil Forcer said: "It is fantastic that the advert will finally be shown and what better time than on prime time television on a Friday night.

"The filming was tough because we had to do a lot of re-shoots and the uniform was pretty heavy."

Neil, 41, from the Headland, added: "It was very exciting to be part of it and it helps to put Hartlepool on the map, which is great."

The advert, which will appear at 8.45pm, will portray key moments in the country's history over the past 100 years such as England winning football's World Cup and the 1984 miners' strike.

The original advert, which featured a delivery boy pushing his bike up cobbled streets to the sound of Dvorak's New World Symphony, was voted the most popular commercial of all time.