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

BEALE, JACK

The script for Nurse was based on an idea supplied by Jack Beale and Patrick Cargill, stemming from their stage play, Ring for Catty .

BEAMISH, LEONARD

Played by Ian Curry

Mr Beamish phones Togetherness Marriage Agency in Regardless. He wants a wife in time for a tea party he’s giving his aunt in two weeks so asks the agency for help. But a mix-up finds Delia King arriving at his doorstep, believing she’s been hired to do some housekeeping.

BEAN, MICHAEL

Played by Charles Hawtrey

The French and music teacher at Maudlin Street Secondary Modern School, Mr Bean is seen in Teacher. His other duties include organising and conducting the school orchestra, as well as writing the mournful tunes heard at the school’s annual play.

BEAN, MR

Played by Donald Bisset

A patient at the Long Hampton Hospital, Mr Bean, who’s hospitalised with a kidney stone, is seen in Again Doctor , talking to Dr Carver about his condition.

BEAR CREEK

When Big Heap announces inside Rumpo’s Place that there has been a gold strike at Bear Creek, the hostelry clears within seconds, which is just what the Indian wanted because he aims to pinch some liquor without being shot. It’s not long, though, before the would-be gold diggers realise there isn’t such a place as Bear Creek and head back to the bar. The fictitious place is mentioned in Cowboy .

BEAR PASS

The pass is mentioned in Cowboy and is situated near Stodge City and Sam Houston’s ranch.

BEARDED MAN IN AUDIENCE

Played by Ron Tarr

Seen in Girls this uncredited character is spotted laughing uncontrollably while watching the beauty contest fiasco.

BEASLEY, MRS

Played by Patricia Hayes

In Again Doctor this chatty, loud-speaking woman sees Dr Nookey in the outpatients department about constant ringing in her ears. Mrs Beasley, who’s a hypochondriac, is a regular at the hospital.

BEATIFIC ISLANDS

Sounds like a tropical paradise but far from it, as Dr Nookey and Dr Carver find out in Again Doctor. These far-flung islands are battered by hurricanes for three months of the year and drenched by rain for the remaining nine. Locals call their islands, ‘All rain and wind’. The rich widow, Ellen Moore, established a medical mission there in memory of her husband, who was cared for by the islanders.

BEAUMONT, SUSAN

Role: Frances James in Nurse

Born in London in 1936, Susan Beaumont, daughter of musical comedy actress Roma Beaumont and theatre producer Alfred Black, enrolled at RADA but left after just one term. She soon found employment in pantomime before going on to dance in a Norman Wisdom show at the London Palladium and in a Limelight show on television.

Upon being offered a Rank contract, aged nineteen, she became a leading lady in the 1950s, appearing in a clutch of films, such as Man of the Moment, Simon and Laura, Jumping for Joy, On the Run, No Safety Ahead, Innocent Sinners and The Man Who Liked Funerals.

BECK, JAMES

Role: Mr Roxby in Loving (Note: the scene was cut.)

Born in Islington, London, in 1929, James Beck – who’ll forever be remembered for playing the spiv, Private Walker, in Dad’s Army – graduated from art school and worked as a commercial artist until being called up for National Service.

Upon leaving military life, he pursued a career in the theatre, beginning as a student actor on one pound a week with a small repertory company in Ramsgate. Stints at various reps followed before he moved to London to further his career.

Soon he was appearing on stage and screen, with television credits including Fabian of the Yard, Coronation Street, Romany Jones (playing the lead role), Z Cars, The Troubleshooters, Counterstrike, Beggar My Neighbour, The Motorway Men, Here’s Harry and Taxi.

He died in 1973, aged forty-four.

‘BED OF THE CENTURY’

In Regardless, Sam Twist demonstrates the ‘Bed of the Century’ at the Ideal House Exhibition. Unfortunately it has a few teething problems and Twist gets into a right mess.

BED OF NAILS NATIVE

Played by Hugh Futcher

Seen in Algiers during Spying, he chides Simkins for treading on his bed of nails.

BEDSOP, JAMES

Played by Charles Hawtrey

A private enquiry agent hired in Loving by Sophie Bliss to keep an eye on Sidney, whom she suspects of having affairs with many of the female clients registered with the Wedded Bliss Agency.

Mr Bedsop begins his surveillance in the cocktail bar of the Parkway Hotel where Sophie believes Sidney is planning to meet Esme Crowfoot; he’s hardly subtle in his methods of work, though, making it blatantly obvious later that he’s following Sidney up the road.

He eventually finds himself under arrest: after donning an artificial beard as disguise, he follows Bliss into a public lavatory and begins acting suspiciously by getting down on his hands and knees and peeping under the cubicle doors. Chased out by the attendant, he tells a waiting policeman that he’s looking for a man, which doesn’t go down too well with the bobby.

BEEVERS, DIANA

Role: Penny Lee in Teacher

Born in London in 1944, Diana Beevers joined the Corona Academy at the age of eleven and was soon appearing in the BBC children’s television serial, The Thompson Family, as Susan Thompson, in the late 1950s. She enjoyed other screen work while at the Academy, lastly in Venture, an Associated Rediffusion production.

Upon leaving the Corona at fifteen she went straight into The Visit in the West End; in addition to furthering her acting career, she began studying for O and A-levels and finally, in the 1980s, earning a degree with the Open University.

During the 1960s and ’70s, Beevers appeared in a handful of television and film productions, including Public Eye, Within These Walls and Rumpole of the Bailey. She also had a running part in the ’60s series, Compact , playing Michelle Donnelly. On the big screen, she was seen as a WRNS officer in 1968’s Submarine X-1 and Disney’s Escape to the Dark .

Her last theatre appearance was in the Noël Coward trilogy, Tonight at Eight , in 1971, after which she left the profession to raise her daughter, thereafter only making the occasional television appearance. She returned in the 1980s and directed in various London fringe theatres.

In recent years she ran her own mail order company, selling classical CDs, but has since closed the business and returned to directing professional, amateur and youth theatre groups on the Isle of Wight, where she now resides.

BEHIND, CARRY ON

see feature box here.

BELCHER, BROTHER

Played by Peter Butterworth

Seen in Up The Khyber, Brother Belcher, a missionary, arrives in India’s Himalayan region to preach, claiming, ‘Sinners welcome with open arms’. When a guide is needed for a military operation across the border in Afghanistan, Belcher is blackmailed into taking the job.

BELL, JACK

Played by Leslie Phillips

In Nurse the likeable Jack Bell is admitted to Haven Hospital for a bunion operation. His admission couldn’t have come at a worse time because he was hoping to sneak away for a few days with his girlfriend, Meg, staying at private hotels along the coast. After his operation is cancelled, Jack – while under the influence of champagne his girlfriend sneaked in – asks fellow patient Oliver Reckitt to perform the op, but soon changes his mind when Reckitt and other patients play along with his request and he nearly ends up being put under the knife by a student studying nuclear physics.