Richard Webber - The Complete A–Z of Everything Carry On

Screenplay by Talbot Rothwell

Music composed and conducted by Eric Rogers

Production Manager: Jack Swinburne

Art Director: Lionel Couch

Editor: Alfred Roome

Director of Photography: Ernest Steward BSC

Camera Operator: James Bawden

Make-up: Geoffrey Rodway

Continuity: Rita Davidson

Assistant Director: David Bracknell

Sound Recordists: Danny Daniel and Ken Barker

Hairdresser: Stella Rivers

Costume Designer: Courtenay Elliott

Set Dresser: Peter Howitt

Assistant Art Director: William Alexander

Dubbing Editor: Brian Holland

Titles: G.S.E. Ltd

Processed by Rank Film Laboratories

Toilets by Royal Doulton Sanitary Potteries

Assistant Editor: Jack Gardner

Producer: Peter Rogers

Director: Gerald Thomas

Vic Spanner (Kenneth Cope) gets an ear bashing from his mum (Renée Houston)

W.C. Boggs and Son have manufactured fine toilet ware since 1870, which is surprising considering the constant striking at the factory; Vic Spanner, the union representative, brings the workforce out at the slightest change in day-to-day procedures, such as the scrapping of drinking tea outside official breaks. When Vic broaches the subject with Lewis Boggs, the boss’s son, who’s still green when it comes to dealing with the union, he declines to discuss the matter, resulting in a meeting to consider yet another walk-out. No one, save Vic, is interested, though, until they’re reminded that the local football team are at home that afternoon.

Meanwhile, upstairs, chief designer Charles Coote, managing director William Boggs and others watch with interest as Miss Withering, Mr Boggs’s secretary, tests out a new toilet’s durability. Another topic on the agenda is the making of bidets: while Lewis wants the firm to start manufacturing them to keep up with the times, his father isn’t convinced.

Production at the factory grinds to a halt, though, when the latest strike takes effect. Sid Plummer returns home for the afternoon and is confronted with a pile of dirty dishes and a wife who spends all day chatting to her budgie, while Vic Spanner is berated by his loudmouthed mother, claiming he’s just like his late father; he ends up with a meagre lunch while Charles Coote, who lodges at the house, is dished up his favourite meal. Nothing seems to be going right for Vic when, en route to the football match, he spots Myrtle, the love of his life, getting into Lewis Boggs’s sports car, and in a rush to follow her ends up losing his trousers.

Back at Sid Plummer’s house, he discovers, to the benefit of his wallet, that the pet budgie, Joey, who hasn’t tweeted a word since they bought him, has the knack of picking winners at horse racing; before placing the biggest bet of his life, Sid tests the bird on yesterday’s race meetings and he comes up trumps every time. Sid soon pockets a fortune, much to his bookmaker’s disgust, enabling him to help out his employer, Mr Boggs, when it’s revealed the company is in financial straits, a gesture eventually repaid with the offer of a place on the board, which Sid is reluctant to accept because he regards himself as a shop-floor worker.

The next strike, over the fitting of a new style tap to the bidets Lewis eventually persuades his father to make, is called by Vic, but a surprise return to work the following day isn’t a sign of everyone’s eagerness to get back to the shop-floor, more because it’s the firm’s outing to Brighton. Everyone decides to enjoy the annual jolly, even Mr Boggs Senior who realises what he’s been missing is a good old booze-up. A jolly time is had by all, especially Lewis Boggs, who’s delighted when he eventually wins over Myrtle Plummer by producing a special marriage licence.

Lewis (Richard O’Callaghan) talks tough with Bernie (Bernard Bresslaw)

Back home, when Mr Coote, whose relationship with Agatha Spanner has blossomed, tells her they won’t be able to marry because the strikes have brought the company to its knees, action is called for; summoning the help of other frustrated wives, Agatha and the women march to the picket line and bring the strike to an abrupt end; everything now seems rosy until Bernie Hulke tells Vic there is no loo roll in the toilet, but even the militant Vic Spanner has turned over a new leaf and dips into his own pocket to buy a new packet.

ARMY OFFICER

Played by Cyril Raymond

Seen in Regardless struggling to squeeze by Sam Twist in the corridor of the Scotland-bound train. Twist, who’s en route to the Forth Bridge in a parody of The 39 Steps , asks if he’s got some special orders for him, annoying the officer in the process.

ARNALL, JULIA

Role: Trudy Trelawney in Regardless

Julia Arnall, born in Vienna, Austria, in 1931, moved to Britain in 1950 and began her career as a model before turning to acting.

During the 1950s and ’60s she appeared in several films, including Simon and Laura, House of Secrets, The Quiller Memorandum and, most notably, Lost. However, when her Rank contract was terminated in 1957, her screen appearances became infrequent.

Her television credits include Sword of Freedom, International Detective, Ghost Squad, The Saint and The Troubleshooters.

ARTHUR

Played by Derek Francis

Arthur works as a security guard in the lobby of Finisham Maternity Hospital in Matron. A miserable-looking guy whose demeanour is remarked upon by Sid Carter, who’s pretending to be an expectant father in an attempt to find out where the contraceptive pills are kept. He comments he’ll christen his baby ‘Happy’ after him.

ASKWITH, ROBIN

Role: Larry in Girls

Born in Southport, Lancashire, in 1950, Robin Askwith was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, Rickmansworth. Unable to take up a place at Bristol University, where he intended reading English and drama, he happened upon a career in acting, beginning with a margarine commercial, followed by, in 1968, the part of Keating in Lindsay Anderson’s film, If.

He’s made over thirty films but is arguably best remembered for playing the lead in the Confessions sex comedies of the 1970s. Other film credits include Scramble ; Hide and Seek ; Bless This House ; Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers ; Brittania Hospital , again with Lindsay Anderson, and, in 2000, The Asylum. His television work over the years has seen him appear in, among others, The Borderers, Boon, Sunburn and Doctors.

In 1977 he formed The Comedy Company and toured the world with various shows. Today, he lives on the island of Gozo.

ASSISTANT MANAGER

Played by Robin Ray

The assistant manager of F.H. Rowse, a department store in Constable , isn’t informed by his manager of PC Benson and PC Gorse’s undercover work attempting to catch shoplifters in the store, which explains the confusion that ensues when they become suspects themselves.

AT YOUR CONVENIENCE, CARRY ON

See feature box here.

ATKINS, JOHN

Played by Paul Cole

In Teacher, Atkins is a leading culprit among the kids who set out to cause havoc when a school inspector and child psychiatrist visit Maudlin Street Secondary Modern School.

ATS GIRL

Played by Barbara Rosenblat

Based at the experimental 1313 anti-aircraft battery in England, she’s one of the shirkers who suffers a severe shock to the system when the tough-speaking Captain Melly is put in charge of the unit.