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

‘What’s this wiggly thing?’ asks Cleopatra (Amanda Barrie) ( Cleo )

His working life began at his father’s wholesale paper business before he started writing short stories for magazines of the 1920s and ’30s; he also wrote plays and novels. In 1931 he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company and, two years on, began a long association with the Windmill Theatre, subsequently becoming the venue’s leading comedian. Also in this year, he made his radio debut in First Time Here.

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Navy after which he returned to radio to star in some of the great series between 1945–49. Although he made brief appearances on television, it was radio, film and stage work that occupied most of his career.

He died in 1990, aged seventy-eight.

BARKER, KEN

Sound Recordist on Cowboy , Screaming! , Don’t Lose Your Head , Follow That Camel , Doctor , Up The Khyber , Camping , Again Doctor, Up the Jungle , Loving , Henry , At Your Convenience , Matron , Abroad , Girls , Dick , Behind and That’s Carry On

During a busy career, the late Ken Barker worked on over fifty films. A sound recordist from the 1960s, his credits included The Long Duel, Countess Dracula, Twins of Evil, Kidnapped, Doomwatch, Educating Rita, Trail of the Pink Panther and four Bond movies: Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy . His television work included the sci-fi series UFO and Born to Run.

BARMAN

Played by Bill Pertwee

Works at the cocktail bar in the Parkway Hotel and is on duty when Bertie Muffet arrives to meet Esme Crowfoot in Loving. A case of mistaken identity sees Muffet walk out with Sally Martin, a model, who’s supposed to be waiting for a photographer.

BARMAN

Played by Simon Cain

Works at the Brighton hotel frequented by the staff of William Boggs and Son, a toilet ware manufacturer, whilst on their annual jolly. He’s seen in At Your Convenience.

BARMAN

Played by Kenneth Waller

Works behind the bar at the Riverside Caravan Site’s clubhouse during the cabaret evening in Behind.

BARNES, DAPHNE

Played by Joan Sims

Linda Upmore’s interfering mother is seen in Behind, making a nuisance of herself while accompanying her daughter and son-in-law on a caravan holiday to the Riverside Caravan Site. It’s hardly surprising she hasn’t seen her husband, Henry, for ten years, given her manner and constant complaining. She ran a pub until her hubby sold it, and claims she did all the work while he lazed around. She receives a big shock when she bumps into her former spouse at the caravan site, where he works as an odd-job man. Before the holiday is over, they’ve reignited the flame and plan on giving their marriage another try.

BARNES, HENRY

Played by Peter Butterworth

In Behind , Henry Barnes works as an odd-job man for Major Leep at the Riverside Caravan Site. Although he’s paid peanuts, he boasts around twenty grand in his bank account thanks to a win on the pools. He hasn’t seen his wife, Daphne, for ten years, ever since selling the pub they used to run, a decision which didn’t go down too well with his missus, who always claimed Henry was a lazy individual. He can’t believe his eyes when he bumps into his ex-wife at the caravan site, and before long they’re reliving old times and planning a future together.

BARRIE, AMANDA

Roles: Anthea in Cabby and Cleopatra in Cleo

Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, in 1939, Amanda Barrie started dancing and singing in her grandfather’s theatre in Ashton at the age of three. A trained dancer, Barrie was only thirteen when she became a chorus girl in London, debuting in Babes in the Wood , and in 1956 became a regular at London’s Winston’s Club.

She broke into the film world playing small parts in, among others, 1959’s Operation Bullshine , A Pair of Briefs a year later and 1963’s Doctor in Distress before the first of two Carry On appearances.

She’s probably best known, however, for her television work. As well as appearances in shows such as The Seven Faces of Jim, Danger Man, Are You Being Served?, L for Lester and, in recent years, Doctors and Hell’s Kitchen , she’ll always be remembered for playing Alma in Coronation Street and Bev in Bad Girls.

MEMORIES

‘As a revue I was in, Six of One , stumbled to its close in the summer of 1963, I was to have a gap of three weeks before going into the already acclaimed musical She Loves Me , at the Lyric Theatre, taking over from Rita Moreno. I had also been hired to play Cleo in the film Carry On Cleo, which, of course, was to turn out to be a real landmark for me. But my agent had made a ghastly mistake. It transpired that the filming of Cleo actually started on the same day that I was to go into She Loves Me . By the time we found out it was already too late to drop out of one of them decently, even if I had wanted to. So lucky old me, not just eight shows a week, but two productions at the same time.

‘I remain extraordinarily grateful to the Carry Ons . At the time they were just another job, but they had such visual impact that the images from them remain in people’s minds. It always surprises me that I receive just as many letters about Cleo , which was just one film made almost forty years ago, as I do about the Street . In spite of other people’s kind opinions I have never thought I was any good in Cleo. ’

‘I really was naked in that bath – apart from bits of plaster over my nipples which looked pretty silly. Although tastefully shot from the back, this was very unusual in the early sixties. It seemed perfectly normal to me of course. I was an old chorus girl, more used to being undressed most of the time than dressed.’

AMANDA BARRIE –from her autobiography, It’s Not A Rehearsal

BARRON, MR

Played by Charles Hawtrey

Seen in Doctor, Mr Barron spends much of his time asleep on Fosdick Ward. When his wife, Mildred, told him she was expecting, he went into deep shock and was admitted to Borough County Hospital suffering a phantom pregnancy. Deciding to play along with his nonsense, Dr Tinkle sends him to pre-natal classes, which he finds humiliating, but by the end of his spell in hospital his wife gives birth and he becomes the proud father of a little boy.

BARRON, MRS

Played by Gwendolyn Watts

Mildred Barron is the pregnant wife of Mr Barron. When she told her husband they were expecting, he went into shock and was admitted to Borough County Hospital suffering a phantom pregnancy. Seen in Doctor visiting her hubby.

BARRY, HILDA

Role: Grandma Grubb in Loving

Born in California in 1896, Hilda Barry spent her early career in the theatre before becoming a regular face on the screen from the mid-1950s.

On television she made several appearances in Dixon of Dock Green as well as The Flying Doctor, The Prisoner, Special Branch, Quatermass and, latterly, Angels. Her film credits included The Drayton Case, John of the Fair, Never Back Losers, Poor Cow, On the Buses, Steptoe and Son Ride Again and her last picture, The Confessional.