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Carry On (franchise)

February 11, 2024

Carry On is a British comedy franchise comprising 31 films, four Christmas specials, a television series and stage shows produced between 1958 and 1992. Produced by Peter Rogers, the Carry On films were directed by Gerald Thomas and starred a regular ensemble that included Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas, and Jim Dale. The humour of Carry On was in the British comic tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside postcards. The success of the films led to several spin-offs, including four Christmas television specials (1969–1973), a 1975 television series of 13 episodes and three West End stage shows that also toured the United Kingdom.

Carry On
Directed byGerald Thomas
Written by
Produced byPeter Rogers
Starring
Music by
Distributed by
Release date
1958–1978, 1992
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

A precursor to the carry on films was The Big Job. The Big Job shared its cast, writting and production team with the Carry On films, but the film was not officially part of the Carry On series, despite being a typical Carry On format.

The Carry On series contains the largest number of films of any British film franchise, and is the second longest running, albeit with a 14-year gap (1978–1992) between the 30th and 31st entries. (The James Bond film series is the longest-running, having started in 1962, four years after the first Carry On, though with fewer films.)

Rogers and Thomas were responsible for all 31 films, usually on time and to a strict budget, and often employed the same crew — some of whom were also regulars on the James Bond series, such as Peter Lamont, Alan Hume, and Anthony Waye. Between 1958 and 1992, the series employed seven writers, most often Norman Hudis (1958–1962) and Talbot Rothwell (1963–1974). Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd produced 12 films (1958–1966), the Rank Organisation made 18 (1966–1978), while United International Pictures produced one (1992).

All films were made at Pinewood Studios near Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. Budgetary constraints meant that a large proportion of the location filming was undertaken close to the studios in and around south Buckinghamshire, including areas of Berkshire and Middlesex. However, by the late 1960s, at the height of the series' success, more ambitious plots occasionally necessitated locations further afield, which included Snowdonia National Park, Wales (with the foot of Snowdon standing in for the Khyber Pass in Carry On Up the Khyber), and the beaches of the Sussex coast doubling as Saharan sand dunes in Follow That Camel.

Background edit

Carry On Sergeant (1958) is about a group of recruits doing National Service; its title, a command commonly issued by army officers to their sergeants in the course of their routine duties, was in keeping with its setting. The film was sufficiently successful to inspire a similar venture, again focusing on an established and respected profession in Carry On Nurse. When that too was successful, further forays with Carry On Teacher and Carry On Constable established the series. This initial 'pattern' was broken with the fifth film in 1961, Carry On Regardless, but it still followed a similar plot to that of many of the early films—a small group of misfit newcomers to a job make comic mistakes, but come together to succeed in the end.

The remainder of the series developed with increased use of the British comic traditions of music hall and bawdy seaside postcards. Many titles parodied more serious films, such as their tongue-in-cheek homages to James Bond (Spying), westerns (Cowboy), and Hammer horror films (Screaming!). The most impressive of these was Carry On Cleo (1964), in which the budget-conscious production team made full use of some impressive sets that had been created in 1960 for the Burton and Taylor epic Cleopatra (1963) but abandoned when production moved to Rome. Carry On Emmannuelle, inspired by the soft-porn Emmanuelle, brought to an end the original Carry On run.

The stock-in-trade of Carry On humour was innuendo and the sending-up of British institutions and customs, such as the National Health Service (Nurse, Doctor, Again Doctor, Matron and the proposed Again Nurse), the monarchy (Henry), the Empire (Up the Khyber), the armed forces (Sergeant, England, Jack and the proposed Flying and Escaping), the police (Constable) and the trade unions (At Your Convenience) as well as camping (Camping), foreign holidays (Cruising, Abroad), beauty contests (Girls), caravan holidays (Behind), and the education system (Teacher) amongst others. Although the films were very often panned by critics, they mostly proved very popular with audiences.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In 2007, the pun "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", spoken by Kenneth Williams (playing Julius Caesar) in Carry on Cleo, was voted the funniest one-line joke in film history.[8] However, this line had originally been written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden for Jimmy Edwards in the radio series Take It From Here some years previously.

A film had appeared in 1957 under the title Carry On Admiral; although this was a comedy in similar vein (and even featured Joan Sims in the cast) it has no connection to the Carry On series itself. The much earlier 1937 film Carry On London is also unrelated (though it coincidentally starred future Carry On performer Eric Barker).

The cast were poorly paid—around £5,000 per film for a principal performer.[9] In his diaries Kenneth Williams lamented this, and criticised several of the movies despite his declared fondness for the series as a whole.[10] Peter Rogers, the series' producer, acknowledged: "Kenneth was worth taking care of, because while he cost very little [...] he made a very great deal of money for the franchise."[9]

Cast edit

Main article: List of Carry On films cast members

The Carry On series includes a broad cast across the films and other adaptations. A regular core ensemble cast included Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, and Jim Dale.

Filmography edit

Main article: Carry On series on screen and stage

Planned films edit

Several other films were planned, scripted (or partly scripted) or entered pre-production before being abandoned:[11][12][13]

Carry On Again Nurse edit

An intended sub-sequel to the successful Carry On Nurse was renamed and made as Carry On Doctor in 1967.[14] Carry On Nurse was alluded to twice in Carry On Doctor, firstly with the sub-titles (one reading Nurse Carries On Again and Death of a Daffodil), and again in a later scene with Frankie Howerd commenting on a vase of daffodils in his hospital room. A second attempt at Carry On Again Nurse came in 1979, after the series left Rank Films and moved to Hemdale. A completed script had been written by George Layton[15] and Jonathan Lynn in 1977, but the attempt was cancelled due to the financial loss of Carry On Emmannuelle.

The final attempt to create Carry On Again Nurse came in 1988, with a script written by Norman Hudis.[16] It was to revolve around a hospital set for closure, and set to star original actors Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Connor and Joan Sims, with Sims filling in the role of Matron that was previously held by Hattie Jacques. The end of the film was going to be a tribute to Jacques, with Sims turning around a photograph of the actress and asking "Well, did I do alright?" (the script is included in the book The Lost Carry Ons). Production was scheduled to begin in June 1988, but the death of Williams two months previously, followed by that of Hawtrey six months later – combined with a budget of £1.5 million, which was deemed too expensive – proved to be the end of the film and it was cancelled.[17]

Others edit

  • What a Carry On... (1961)
  • Carry On Smoking (1961), revolving around a fire station and various attempts to train a bungling group of new recruits.
  • Carry On Spaceman (1961), scripted by Norman Hudis and planned to be released shortly after Carry On Regardless. Satirising the Space Race, the cast was to consist of three would-be astronauts who constantly bungled on their training and their mission into outer space; most likely the trio would have been played by the trio of Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, and Leslie Phillips that had been established in Carry On Constable. Attempts to revive Carry On Spaceman in 1962 under Denis Gifford, again by Hudis, failed, and the project was subsequently abandoned.
  • Carry On Flying (1962), about a group of RAF recruits. Norman Hudis penned a script and the film got as far as pre-production before being abandoned. Jim Dale was to have had a starring role.
  • Carry On Robin (1965), a spoof of Robin Hood starring the Carry On regulars. Rogers outlined the film and registered it with the British Film Producers Association but never pursued it any further.[14]
  • Carry On Escaping (1973), scripted by Talbot Rothwell, a spoof of World War II escape films. The complete script is included in the book The Complete A–Z of Everything Carry On.
  • Carry On Dallas (1980), a spoof of the popular American soap opera Dallas was pursued in 1980. A script was written and casting offers made to Williams, Connor, Douglas, Sims, Windsor, Hawtrey and Dale. The production was abandoned when Dallas production company Lorimar Productions demanded a royalty fee of 20 times the total production budget.[12]
  • Carry On Down Under was considered when, while on holiday in Australia, Gerald Thomas scouted locations and spoke to the Australian Film Commission about a potential film. The production was abandoned when finance fell through, and a complete script written by Vince Powell is included in the book Fifty Years of Carry On.

The final proposed Carry On, before Peter Rogers's death in 2009, was Carry On London. Announced in 2003 by Rogers and producer James Black, it remained in pre-production well into 2008. The script was signed off by the production company in late March 2008, and "centred on a limousine company ferrying celebrities to an awards show".[18] The film had several false starts, with the producers and cast changing extensively over time. Only the little-known Welsh actress Jynine James remained a consistent name from 2003 to 2008.[19] Danniella Westbrook, David Jason, Shaun Williamson and Burt Reynolds were also once attached to the project. It was announced in May 2006 that Vinnie Jones and Shane Richie were to star in the film, which was to be directed by Peter Richardson, though Ed Bye later replaced him as the named director.[20] At the 50th anniversary party held at Pinewood Studios in March 2008, Rogers confirmed that he was planning a series of Carry On films after London, subject to the success of the first.

In early 2009, Carry On London or Carry On Bananas was once again 'back on', with Charlie Higson attached as director, and a different, more modern, cast list involving Paul O'Grady (as the acidic Kenneth Williamsesque character), Jynine James, Lenny Henry, Justin Lee Collins, Jennifer Ellison (as the saucy Barbara Windsor type), Liza Tarbuck (paralleling Hattie Jacques), Meera Syal, James Dreyfus, and Frank Skinner (filling in the Sid James role). Despite new media interest and sets being constructed at Pinewood Studios, the film was once again put on hold, and the project was abandoned after the death of Peter Rogers in April 2009.[21]

Reboot edit

In May 2016, producer Jonathan Sothcott of Hereford Films announced plans for a new series of Carry On films, beginning with Carry On Doctors and Carry On Campus. On 12 April 2017, Sothcott confirmed to the website The Hollywood News that he was no longer involved with the film series.[22][23][24] As of September 2019, three Carry On films were set to be filmed back-to-back, after Brian Baker won the rights to the movies following a legal battle with ITV earlier that year. Production of the new films had been planned to take place in spring 2020.[25] However, filming was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and little more was heard about the project until after the death of Barbara Windsor in December 2020, when Baker announced that he would be using old footage of the actress in the film, saying "Barbara will be making an appearance."[26] Baker told the Daily Star Sunday that "we have got two new stories and we are looking to do one of the old ones again to bring it up to modern day quality – probably Carry On Sergeant ".[26]

Baker's company Carry On Films Ltd was later dissolved.[27]

Spin-offs edit

Television edit

Main article: Carry On television

The characters and comedy style of the Carry On film series were adapted to a television series titled Carry On Laughing, and several Christmas specials.

Stage shows edit

Main article: Carry On stage shows

Album edit

Main article: Oh! What a Carry On!

In 1971, Music for Pleasure released a long-playing record, Oh! What a Carry On! (MFP MONO 1416), featuring songs performed by Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Kenneth Connor, Frankie Howerd, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor, and Dora Bryan.

Legacy edit

See also: Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and Cor, Blimey!

Documentaries edit

A 50-minute television documentary, What's a Carry On?, was made in 1998 for the 40th anniversary of the first film. It included archive clips, out-takes and interviews with surviving cast members. It was included as an extra on the DVD release of Carry On Emmannuelle.

A two-hour radio documentary, Carry On Forever!, presented by Leslie Phillips, was broadcast in two parts on BBC Radio 2 on 19 and 20 July 2010. A three-part television retrospective with the same title, narrated by Martin Clunes, was shown on ITV3 in the UK over Easter 2015.

Home media edit

The Carry On film series has had numerous individual releases on VHS, and a number of VHSs were released in an eighteen VHS box-set on 1 September 2003.[28]

The film series was first released as a DVD box-set on 1 September 2008, by ITV Studios Home Entertainment.[29] Five years later, on 7 October 2013, it was re-released with smaller packaging.[30] All the movies contained in the collection are also available to buy individually.

Since 2013, StudioCanal has released a number of the Carry On films on Blu-ray, beginning with Carry On Screaming! (21 October 2013), Carry On Cleo (5 May 2014), Carry On Cowboy (2 June 2014) and Carry On Jack (7 July 2014).[31][32][33][34]

Cultural influence edit

The success of the Carry On series occasionally led to affectionate parodies of the series by other contemporary comedians:

  • In The Spitting Image Book, released in 1985, there is a reference to a fictitious made-for-TV film entitled Carry On Up the Rectum, satirising the transparency of the puns used for Carry On Up the Khyber and possibly Carry On Up the Jungle.[35]
  • Harry Enfield's mockumentary Norbert Smith: A Life (1989) includes a clip from an imagined film, Carry On Banging (a parody of the more risque approach of the later films, such as Carry On Dick and Carry On Emmannuelle). The setting is the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp of the 1980s, and featured Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas and Kenneth Connor.[12]
  • That Mitchell and Webb Look features the sketch "Bawdy 1970s Hospital", which portrays a stereotypical Carry On-style hospital with frequent use of double entendre, except by one doctor who has trouble fitting in as he comes out with simple obscenity, unable to understand the distinction.
  • A "flash frame" of the end shot of Carry On Cowboy is used in series two of The Young Ones.
  • In Tom Holt's eighth Portable Door novel When It's a Jar (2013) the Carrion franchise offers a "uniquely quirky blend of spatterfest zombie horror and traditional British slapstick-and-innuendo comedy" with titles such as Carrion Nursing, Carrion Camping and Carrion Up the Khyber.[36]
  • In The Goodies' book The Making of the Goodies Disaster Movie, the trio visit the set of Carry On Christ in order to get advice from the Carry On team, while they are filming a scene relating to 'The Feeding of the Five Thousand', with some of the cast noted as Kenneth Williams playing 'Pontius Pilate', Charles Hawtrey as 'A Wise Virgin', Barbara Windsor as 'Not a Wise Virgin' and Hattie Jacques as 'The Five Thousand'.[37]
  • Clips from several Carry On films are used in In The Movies It Doesn't Hurt (1975), a short film on laboratory safety for schools starring Bernard Bresslaw.[38][39]
  • In the song Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others by The Smiths, one of the lines is "As Anthony said to Cleopatra, as he opened a crate of ale, oh, I say", making reference to Carry on Cleo.
  • In the 2023 television series Funny Woman, set in the mid-1960s, the Carry On films are mentioned a few times as the series star, Sophie Straw, portrayed by Gemma Arterton, receives an offer for a role in a proposed entry in the film series.

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ "More than just a Carry On?". BBC News. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  2. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (15 May 2004). "What a Carry On!". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  3. ^ Cook, William (18 March 2008). "Film Blog: Stop Carry Ons". London: Blogs.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  4. ^ Tanya Gold (28 September 2007). "Infamy? They've got it". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  5. ^ "The possibility of happiness..." Newstatesman.com. 1 October 2001. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  6. ^ TimesOnline: A 50th anniversary appreciation of the Carry On movie, 29 July 2008 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ White, Jim (17 March 2008). "A British comedy classic that could carry on". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2010.[dead link]
  8. ^ "Carry On quip tops one-liner poll". BBC News. 4 April 2007.
  9. ^ a b Butters, Wes and Davies, Russell. Kenneth Williams Unseen, HarperCollins, 2008
  10. ^ Davies, Russell (ed.), The Kenneth Williams Diaries, HarperCollins, 1993
  11. ^ Morris Bright and Robert Ross (2000). The Lost Carry Ons: Scenes That Never Made it to the Screen. Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-990-7.
  12. ^ a b c Robert Ross (2002). The Carry on Companion. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-8771-2.
  13. ^ Webber, Richard (2005). The Complete A–Z of Everything Carry On. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-718223-6.
  14. ^ a b Fifty Years of Carry On. Random House. 2009. p. 188. ISBN 978-0099490074.
  15. ^ Layton, George. . georgelayton.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  16. ^ Webber, Richard (31 March 2011). Fifty Years of Carry On. Random House. p. 186. ISBN 9781446409961.
  17. ^ "Joan Sims". IMDb.
  18. ^ Hassan, Genevieve (13 March 2008). "Carry On script gets green light". BBC News. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
  19. ^ "From Convent to Carry On". BBC News. 10 September 2003. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  20. ^ "Vinnie Jones in new Carry On film". BBC News. 16 May 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  21. ^ "'Carry On' producer Rogers dies", BBC News, 15 April 2009
  22. ^ Heath, Paul (12 April 2017). "Exclusive Interview: Jonathan Sothcott for We Still Steal The Old Way". The Hollywood News.
  23. ^ Barraclough, Leo (16 May 2016). "'Carry On' Comedy Movie Series to Be Revived". Variety. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  24. ^ Ritman, Alex (30 May 2016). "British 'Carry On' Producer at Center of Series of Fraud Allegations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  25. ^ Arnold, Ben (13 September 2019). "Three new 'Carry On' films could be shot back-to-back". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  26. ^ a b Edwards, Chris (13 December 2020). "New Carry On film plans to feature Barbara Windsor as a hologram". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  27. ^ "CARRY ON FILMS LIMITED people - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  28. ^ "The Carry On Collection – 18 VHS Box Set". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  29. ^ "Carry On – The Ultimate Collection DVD". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  30. ^ "Carry On – The Complete Collection DVD 1958". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  31. ^ "Carry on Screaming Blu-ray 1966". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  32. ^ "Carry On Cleo 1964 Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  33. ^ "Carry On Cowboy 1966 Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  34. ^ "Carry On Jack 1963 Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  35. ^ The Spitting Image Book – Faber and Faber Ltd, 1985. Pg. 11
  36. ^ Holt, Tom (2013). When It's A Jar. Orbit. p. 126. ISBN 9781841497822.
  37. ^ The Making of The Goodies Disaster Movie – Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd., London 1977. (First Sphere Books Ltd., London edition 1978)
  38. ^ . British Film Institute (BFI). Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  39. ^ "In the Movies It Doesn't Hurt". Giffoni Film Festival 1978. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

Bibliography edit

External links edit

  • Carry On Films at The Whippit Inn 26 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine Detailed information on the Carry On film series
  • What a Carry On 7 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine A tribute to the series
  • Carry on Films at IMDb
  • Laugh with the Carry Ons (TV Series 1993) at IMDb  

February 11, 2024
carry, franchise, carry, british, comedy, franchise, comprising, films, four, christmas, specials, television, series, stage, shows, produced, between, 1958, 1992, produced, peter, rogers, carry, films, were, directed, gerald, thomas, starred, regular, ensembl. Carry On is a British comedy franchise comprising 31 films four Christmas specials a television series and stage shows produced between 1958 and 1992 Produced by Peter Rogers the Carry On films were directed by Gerald Thomas and starred a regular ensemble that included Sid James Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Joan Sims Kenneth Connor Peter Butterworth Hattie Jacques Terry Scott Bernard Bresslaw Barbara Windsor Jack Douglas and Jim Dale The humour of Carry On was in the British comic tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside postcards The success of the films led to several spin offs including four Christmas television specials 1969 1973 a 1975 television series of 13 episodes and three West End stage shows that also toured the United Kingdom Carry OnDirected byGerald ThomasWritten byNorman Hudis 1958 1962 Talbot Rothwell 1963 1974 Produced byPeter RogersStarringKenneth Williams Joan Sims Charles Hawtrey Sid James Kenneth Connor Peter Butterworth Hattie Jacques Bernard Bresslaw Jim Dale Barbara Windsor Patsy Rowlands Jack Douglas Terry Scott et al Music byBruce Montgomery 1958 1962 Eric Rogers 1963 1975 1977 1978 Max Harris 1976 Distributed byAnglo Amalgamated 1958 1966 The Rank Organisation 1966 1978 United International Pictures 1992 Release date1958 1978 1992CountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishA precursor to the carry on films was The Big Job The Big Job shared its cast writting and production team with the Carry On films but the film was not officially part of the Carry On series despite being a typical Carry On format The Carry On series contains the largest number of films of any British film franchise and is the second longest running albeit with a 14 year gap 1978 1992 between the 30th and 31st entries The James Bond film series is the longest running having started in 1962 four years after the first Carry On though with fewer films Rogers and Thomas were responsible for all 31 films usually on time and to a strict budget and often employed the same crew some of whom were also regulars on the James Bond series such as Peter Lamont Alan Hume and Anthony Waye Between 1958 and 1992 the series employed seven writers most often Norman Hudis 1958 1962 and Talbot Rothwell 1963 1974 Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd produced 12 films 1958 1966 the Rank Organisation made 18 1966 1978 while United International Pictures produced one 1992 All films were made at Pinewood Studios near Iver Heath Buckinghamshire Budgetary constraints meant that a large proportion of the location filming was undertaken close to the studios in and around south Buckinghamshire including areas of Berkshire and Middlesex However by the late 1960s at the height of the series success more ambitious plots occasionally necessitated locations further afield which included Snowdonia National Park Wales with the foot of Snowdon standing in for the Khyber Pass in Carry On Up the Khyber and the beaches of the Sussex coast doubling as Saharan sand dunes in Follow That Camel Contents 1 Background 2 Cast 3 Filmography 3 1 Planned films 3 1 1 Carry On Again Nurse 3 1 2 Others 3 2 Reboot 4 Spin offs 4 1 Television 4 2 Stage shows 4 3 Album 5 Legacy 5 1 Documentaries 5 2 Home media 5 3 Cultural influence 6 References 6 1 Notes 6 2 Bibliography 7 External linksBackground editCarry On Sergeant 1958 is about a group of recruits doing National Service its title a command commonly issued by army officers to their sergeants in the course of their routine duties was in keeping with its setting The film was sufficiently successful to inspire a similar venture again focusing on an established and respected profession in Carry On Nurse When that too was successful further forays with Carry On Teacher and Carry On Constable established the series This initial pattern was broken with the fifth film in 1961 Carry On Regardless but it still followed a similar plot to that of many of the early films a small group of misfit newcomers to a job make comic mistakes but come together to succeed in the end The remainder of the series developed with increased use of the British comic traditions of music hall and bawdy seaside postcards Many titles parodied more serious films such as their tongue in cheek homages to James Bond Spying westerns Cowboy and Hammer horror films Screaming The most impressive of these was Carry On Cleo 1964 in which the budget conscious production team made full use of some impressive sets that had been created in 1960 for the Burton and Taylor epic Cleopatra 1963 but abandoned when production moved to Rome Carry On Emmannuelle inspired by the soft porn Emmanuelle brought to an end the original Carry On run The stock in trade of Carry On humour was innuendo and the sending up of British institutions and customs such as the National Health Service Nurse Doctor Again Doctor Matron and the proposed Again Nurse the monarchy Henry the Empire Up the Khyber the armed forces Sergeant England Jack and the proposed Flying and Escaping the police Constable and the trade unions At Your Convenience as well as camping Camping foreign holidays Cruising Abroad beauty contests Girls caravan holidays Behind and the education system Teacher amongst others Although the films were very often panned by critics they mostly proved very popular with audiences 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 In 2007 the pun Infamy infamy they ve all got it in for me spoken by Kenneth Williams playing Julius Caesar in Carry on Cleo was voted the funniest one line joke in film history 8 However this line had originally been written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden for Jimmy Edwards in the radio seriesTake It From Here some years previously A film had appeared in 1957 under the title Carry On Admiral although this was a comedy in similar vein and even featured Joan Sims in the cast it has no connection to the Carry On series itself The much earlier 1937 film Carry On London is also unrelated though it coincidentally starred future Carry On performer Eric Barker The cast were poorly paid around 5 000 per film for a principal performer 9 In his diaries Kenneth Williams lamented this and criticised several of the movies despite his declared fondness for the series as a whole 10 Peter Rogers the series producer acknowledged Kenneth was worth taking care of because while he cost very little he made a very great deal of money for the franchise 9 Cast editMain article List of Carry On films cast members The Carry On series includes a broad cast across the films and other adaptations A regular core ensemble cast included Sid James Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Joan Sims Kenneth Connor Peter Butterworth Hattie Jacques Bernard Bresslaw Barbara Windsor and Jim Dale Filmography editMain article Carry On series on screen and stage Carry On Sergeant 1958 Carry On Nurse 1959 Carry On Teacher 1959 Carry On Constable 1960 Carry On Regardless 1961 Carry On Cruising 1962 Carry On Cabby 1963 Carry On Jack 1964 Carry On Spying 1964 Carry On Cleo 1964 Carry On Cowboy 1965 Carry On Screaming 1966 Don t Lose Your Head 1967 Follow That Camel 1967 Carry On Doctor 1967 Carry On Up the Khyber 1968 Carry On Camping 1969 Carry On Again Doctor 1969 Carry On Up the Jungle 1970 Carry On Loving 1970 Carry On Henry 1971 Carry On at Your Convenience 1971 Carry On Matron 1972 Carry On Abroad 1972 Carry On Girls 1973 Carry On Dick 1974 Carry On Behind 1975 Carry On England 1976 That s Carry On 1977 Carry On Emmannuelle 1978 Carry On Columbus 1992 Planned films edit Several other films were planned scripted or partly scripted or entered pre production before being abandoned 11 12 13 Carry On Again Nurse edit An intended sub sequel to the successful Carry On Nurse was renamed and made as Carry On Doctor in 1967 14 Carry On Nurse was alluded to twice in Carry On Doctor firstly with the sub titles one reading Nurse Carries On Again and Death of a Daffodil and again in a later scene with Frankie Howerd commenting on a vase of daffodils in his hospital room A second attempt at Carry On Again Nurse came in 1979 after the series left Rank Films and moved to Hemdale A completed script had been written by George Layton 15 and Jonathan Lynn in 1977 but the attempt was cancelled due to the financial loss of Carry On Emmannuelle The final attempt to create Carry On Again Nurse came in 1988 with a script written by Norman Hudis 16 It was to revolve around a hospital set for closure and set to star original actors Barbara Windsor Jack Douglas Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Kenneth Connor and Joan Sims with Sims filling in the role of Matron that was previously held by Hattie Jacques The end of the film was going to be a tribute to Jacques with Sims turning around a photograph of the actress and asking Well did I do alright the script is included in the book The Lost Carry Ons Production was scheduled to begin in June 1988 but the death of Williams two months previously followed by that of Hawtrey six months later combined with a budget of 1 5 million which was deemed too expensive proved to be the end of the film and it was cancelled 17 Others edit What a Carry On 1961 Carry On Smoking 1961 revolving around a fire station and various attempts to train a bungling group of new recruits Carry On Spaceman 1961 scripted by Norman Hudis and planned to be released shortly after Carry On Regardless Satirising the Space Race the cast was to consist of three would be astronauts who constantly bungled on their training and their mission into outer space most likely the trio would have been played by the trio of Kenneth Williams Kenneth Connor and Leslie Phillips that had been established in Carry On Constable Attempts to revive Carry On Spaceman in 1962 under Denis Gifford again by Hudis failed and the project was subsequently abandoned Carry On Flying 1962 about a group of RAF recruits Norman Hudis penned a script and the film got as far as pre production before being abandoned Jim Dale was to have had a starring role Carry On Robin 1965 a spoof of Robin Hood starring the Carry On regulars Rogers outlined the film and registered it with the British Film Producers Association but never pursued it any further 14 Carry On Escaping 1973 scripted by Talbot Rothwell a spoof of World War II escape films The complete script is included in the book The Complete A Z of Everything Carry On Carry On Dallas 1980 a spoof of the popular American soap opera Dallas was pursued in 1980 A script was written and casting offers made to Williams Connor Douglas Sims Windsor Hawtrey and Dale The production was abandoned when Dallas production company Lorimar Productions demanded a royalty fee of 20 times the total production budget 12 Carry On Down Under was considered when while on holiday in Australia Gerald Thomas scouted locations and spoke to the Australian Film Commission about a potential film The production was abandoned when finance fell through and a complete script written by Vince Powell is included in the book Fifty Years of Carry On The final proposed Carry On before Peter Rogers s death in 2009 was Carry On London Announced in 2003 by Rogers and producer James Black it remained in pre production well into 2008 The script was signed off by the production company in late March 2008 and centred on a limousine company ferrying celebrities to an awards show 18 The film had several false starts with the producers and cast changing extensively over time Only the little known Welsh actress Jynine James remained a consistent name from 2003 to 2008 19 Danniella Westbrook David Jason Shaun Williamson and Burt Reynolds were also once attached to the project It was announced in May 2006 that Vinnie Jones and Shane Richie were to star in the film which was to be directed by Peter Richardson though Ed Bye later replaced him as the named director 20 At the 50th anniversary party held at Pinewood Studios in March 2008 Rogers confirmed that he was planning a series of Carry On films after London subject to the success of the first In early 2009 Carry On London or Carry On Bananas was once again back on with Charlie Higson attached as director and a different more modern cast list involving Paul O Grady as the acidic Kenneth Williamsesque character Jynine James Lenny Henry Justin Lee Collins Jennifer Ellison as the saucy Barbara Windsor type Liza Tarbuck paralleling Hattie Jacques Meera Syal James Dreyfus and Frank Skinner filling in the Sid James role Despite new media interest and sets being constructed at Pinewood Studios the film was once again put on hold and the project was abandoned after the death of Peter Rogers in April 2009 21 Reboot edit In May 2016 producer Jonathan Sothcott of Hereford Films announced plans for a new series of Carry On films beginning with Carry On Doctors and Carry On Campus On 12 April 2017 Sothcott confirmed to the website The Hollywood News that he was no longer involved with the film series 22 23 24 As of September 2019 three Carry On films were set to be filmed back to back after Brian Baker won the rights to the movies following a legal battle with ITV earlier that year Production of the new films had been planned to take place in spring 2020 25 However filming was postponed due to the COVID 19 pandemic and little more was heard about the project until after the death of Barbara Windsor in December 2020 when Baker announced that he would be using old footage of the actress in the film saying Barbara will be making an appearance 26 Baker told the Daily Star Sunday that we have got two new stories and we are looking to do one of the old ones again to bring it up to modern day quality probably Carry On Sergeant 26 Baker s company Carry On Films Ltd was later dissolved 27 Spin offs editTelevision edit Main article Carry On television The characters and comedy style of the Carry On film series were adapted to a television series titled Carry On Laughing and several Christmas specials Stage shows edit Main article Carry On stage shows Album edit Main article Oh What a Carry On In 1971 Music for Pleasure released a long playing record Oh What a Carry On MFP MONO 1416 featuring songs performed by Kenneth Williams Jim Dale Kenneth Connor Frankie Howerd Bernard Bresslaw Joan Sims Barbara Windsor and Dora Bryan Legacy editSee also Cleo Camping Emmanuelle and Dick and Cor Blimey Documentaries edit A 50 minute television documentary What s a Carry On was made in 1998 for the 40th anniversary of the first film It included archive clips out takes and interviews with surviving cast members It was included as an extra on the DVD release of Carry On Emmannuelle A two hour radio documentary Carry On Forever presented by Leslie Phillips was broadcast in two parts on BBC Radio 2 on 19 and 20 July 2010 A three part television retrospective with the same title narrated by Martin Clunes was shown on ITV3 in the UK over Easter 2015 Home media edit The Carry On film series has had numerous individual releases on VHS and a number of VHSs were released in an eighteen VHS box set on 1 September 2003 28 The film series was first released as a DVD box set on 1 September 2008 by ITV Studios Home Entertainment 29 Five years later on 7 October 2013 it was re released with smaller packaging 30 All the movies contained in the collection are also available to buy individually Since 2013 StudioCanal has released a number of the Carry On films on Blu ray beginning with Carry On Screaming 21 October 2013 Carry On Cleo 5 May 2014 Carry On Cowboy 2 June 2014 and Carry On Jack 7 July 2014 31 32 33 34 Cultural influence edit The success of the Carry On series occasionally led to affectionate parodies of the series by other contemporary comedians In The Spitting Image Book released in 1985 there is a reference to a fictitious made for TV film entitled Carry On Up the Rectum satirising the transparency of the puns used for Carry On Up the Khyber and possibly Carry On Up the Jungle 35 Harry Enfield s mockumentary Norbert Smith A Life 1989 includes a clip from an imagined film Carry On Banging a parody of the more risque approach of the later films such as Carry On Dick and Carry On Emmannuelle The setting is the Greenham Common Women s Peace Camp of the 1980s and featured Barbara Windsor Jack Douglas and Kenneth Connor 12 That Mitchell and Webb Look features the sketch Bawdy 1970s Hospital which portrays a stereotypical Carry On style hospital with frequent use of double entendre except by one doctor who has trouble fitting in as he comes out with simple obscenity unable to understand the distinction A flash frame of the end shot of Carry On Cowboy is used in series two of The Young Ones In Tom Holt s eighth Portable Door novel When It s a Jar 2013 the Carrion franchise offers a uniquely quirky blend of spatterfest zombie horror and traditional British slapstick and innuendo comedy with titles such as Carrion Nursing Carrion Camping and Carrion Up the Khyber 36 In The Goodies book The Making of the Goodies Disaster Movie the trio visit the set of Carry On Christ in order to get advice from the Carry On team while they are filming a scene relating to The Feeding of the Five Thousand with some of the cast noted as Kenneth Williams playing Pontius Pilate Charles Hawtrey as A Wise Virgin Barbara Windsor as Not a Wise Virgin and Hattie Jacques as The Five Thousand 37 Clips from several Carry On films are used in In The Movies It Doesn t Hurt 1975 a short film on laboratory safety for schools starring Bernard Bresslaw 38 39 In the song Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others by The Smiths one of the lines is As Anthony said to Cleopatra as he opened a crate of ale oh I say making reference to Carry on Cleo In the 2023 television series Funny Woman set in the mid 1960s the Carry On films are mentioned a few times as the series star Sophie Straw portrayed by Gemma Arterton receives an offer for a role in a proposed entry in the film series References editNotes edit More than just a Carry On BBC News 25 July 2008 Retrieved 12 December 2010 Bradshaw Peter 15 May 2004 What a Carry On The Guardian London Retrieved 12 December 2010 Cook William 18 March 2008 Film Blog Stop Carry Ons London Blogs guardian co uk Retrieved 12 December 2010 Tanya Gold 28 September 2007 Infamy They ve got it The Guardian London Retrieved 12 December 2010 The possibility of happiness Newstatesman com 1 October 2001 Retrieved 12 December 2010 TimesOnline A 50th anniversary appreciation of the Carry On movie 29 July 2008 Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine White Jim 17 March 2008 A British comedy classic that could carry on London Telegraph co uk Retrieved 12 December 2010 dead link Carry On quip tops one liner poll BBC News 4 April 2007 a b Butters Wes and Davies Russell Kenneth Williams Unseen HarperCollins 2008 Davies Russell ed The Kenneth Williams Diaries HarperCollins 1993 Morris Bright and Robert Ross 2000 The Lost Carry Ons Scenes That Never Made it to the Screen Virgin Books ISBN 1 85227 990 7 a b c Robert Ross 2002 The Carry on Companion Batsford ISBN 0 7134 8771 2 Webber Richard 2005 The Complete A Z of Everything Carry On HarperCollins ISBN 0 00 718223 6 a b Fifty Years of Carry On Random House 2009 p 188 ISBN 978 0099490074 Layton George Welcome to George Layton s Official Website georgelayton co uk Archived from the original on 1 October 2013 Retrieved 29 November 2013 Webber Richard 31 March 2011 Fifty Years of Carry On Random House p 186 ISBN 9781446409961 Joan Sims IMDb Hassan Genevieve 13 March 2008 Carry On script gets green light BBC News Retrieved 13 March 2008 From Convent to Carry On BBC News 10 September 2003 Retrieved 12 December 2010 Vinnie Jones in new Carry On film BBC News 16 May 2006 Retrieved 21 October 2007 Carry On producer Rogers dies BBC News 15 April 2009 Heath Paul 12 April 2017 Exclusive Interview Jonathan Sothcott for We Still Steal The Old Way The Hollywood News Barraclough Leo 16 May 2016 Carry On Comedy Movie Series to Be Revived Variety Retrieved 13 November 2016 Ritman Alex 30 May 2016 British Carry On Producer at Center of Series of Fraud Allegations The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved 13 November 2016 Arnold Ben 13 September 2019 Three new Carry On films could be shot back to back Yahoo Movies Retrieved 25 December 2020 a b Edwards Chris 13 December 2020 New Carry On film plans to feature Barbara Windsor as a hologram Digital Spy Retrieved 11 April 2021 CARRY ON FILMS LIMITED people Find and update company information GOV UK find and update company information service gov uk Retrieved 5 October 2023 The Carry On Collection 18 VHS Box Set Amazon co uk Retrieved 22 February 2015 Carry On The Ultimate Collection DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 22 February 2015 Carry On The Complete Collection DVD 1958 Amazon co uk Retrieved 22 February 2015 Carry on Screaming Blu ray 1966 Amazon co uk Retrieved 22 February 2015 Carry On Cleo 1964 Blu ray Amazon co uk Retrieved 22 February 2015 Carry On Cowboy 1966 Blu ray Amazon co uk Retrieved 22 February 2015 Carry On Jack 1963 Blu ray Amazon co uk Retrieved 22 February 2015 The Spitting Image Book Faber and Faber Ltd 1985 Pg 11 Holt Tom 2013 When It s A Jar Orbit p 126 ISBN 9781841497822 The Making of The Goodies Disaster Movie Tim Brooke Taylor Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie Weidenfeld amp Nicolson Ltd London 1977 First Sphere Books Ltd London edition 1978 In The Movies it Doesn t Hurt 1975 British Film Institute BFI Archived from the original on 4 July 2020 Retrieved 4 July 2020 In the Movies It Doesn t Hurt Giffoni Film Festival 1978 Retrieved 4 July 2020 Bibliography edit Bright Morris Ross Robert 2000 Mr Carry On The Life amp Work of Peter Rogers London BBC Books ISBN 978 0 563 55183 6 Davidson Andy 2012 Carry On Confidential London Miwk ISBN 978 1 908630 01 8 Eastaugh Kenneth 1978 The Carry On Book London David amp Charles ISBN 978 0 7153 7403 0 Hibbin Sally amp Nina 1988 What a Carry On London Hamlyn ISBN 978 0 600 55819 4 Hudis Norman 2008 No Laughing Matter London Apex ISBN 978 1 906358 15 0 Ross Robert 2002 The Carry On Companion London Batsford ISBN 978 0 7134 8771 8 Ross Robert 2005 The Carry On Story London Reynolds and Hearn Ltd ISBN 1 903111 96 X Rigelsford Adrian 1996 Carry On Laughing a celebration London Virgin ISBN 1 85227 554 5 Sheridan Simon 2011 Keeping the British End Up Four Decades of Saucy Cinema London Titan Books ISBN 978 0 85768 279 6 Snelgrove Kevin 2003 The Carry On Book of Statistics Somerset KAS Publications ISBN 0 9544200 0 4 Snelgrove Kevin 2008 The Official Carry On Facts Figures and Statistics Norfolk Apex Publishing Ltd ISBN 978 1 906358 09 9 Webber Richard 2009 50 Years of Carry On London Arrow ISBN 978 0 09 949007 4 External links editCarry On Films at The Whippit Inn Archived 26 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine Detailed information on the Carry On film series What a Carry On Archived 7 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine A tribute to the series Carry on Films at IMDb Laugh with the Carry Ons TV Series 1993 at IMDb nbsp Retrieved from https en 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