born in glasgow, scotland, he attended southgate college in the 1960s. "jock", as he was affectionately known at the time, organised several student trips from the college to mainland europe, including brussels and cologne, during this period. spiers joined the staff of the bbc in 1970, working as an assistant floor manager and later a production assistant, before eventually working his way up to become a director and producer. in this capacity he worked on several high-profile programmes, such as "dad's army", "are you being served?" and "it ain't half hot mum", all sitcoms, a genre with which he became particularly associated. during the 1970s he met his wife, annie.