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

Filming between 10 April and 15 May was followed by a November release, but the film’s ‘AA’ certificate meant it was no longer classified as family viewing, thereby losing a sizeable proportion of the audience normally associated with Carry On films.

The absence of so many of the faces audiences had become accustomed to, and a script which, although offering innuendo and double entendres, lacked the flair of Hudis and Rothwell’s work, Emmannuelle failed to revive the magic one had come to expect from a Carry On. Some critics regarded the film as pornographic, which is far from the truth, but the sexual connotations were rather more obvious and blatant than anything before, and the film lacked the feel-good factor which had pervaded its predecessors, with the exception of England .

1992

Fourteen years after Emmannuelle , the thirty-first Carry On went into production. The nuts and bolts of this movie are covered in a later chapter, together with details of various aborted projects in the preceding years, but Columbus was a pallid attempt to rekindle Britain’s affections for the Carry On -style movie; sadly, it fell short of the markers set by the others and failed to capture the repertory-company atmosphere one came to expect, and want, from such films.

P. S.

Now, of course, yet another Carry On film is in the pipeline. At the time of writing, London is in production, but only time will tell whether it will prosper or sink without trace. Watch this space!

Illustration © Keith Turley

ABERDEEN ANGUS

Captain Crowther’s favourite tipple in Cruising. He’s distraught when Angus, the head barman responsible for the concoction, leaves the SS Happy Wanderer and his replacement, Sam Turner, hasn’t a clue how to mix the drink.

ABLE, ALICE

Played by Marianne Stone

The wife of Bert Able, who’s a patient at Haven Hospital in Nurse. She’s seen visiting her hubby.

ABLE, BERT

Played by Cyril Chamberlain

A patient at Haven Hospital in Nurse, Bert lives in The Manor, a spacious house on the west side of the Common, with his wife and eleven kids. They rent the property from the local council for around twenty-two shillings a week.

ABLE PLATOON

Sergeant Grimshaw’s final platoon at Heathercrest National Service Depot. In Sergeant the platoon, part of the twenty-ninth intake, becomes – to everyone’s surprise – the champion platoon, breaking all records in the process.

Able Platoon come up trumps for Sergeant Grimshaw ( Sergeant )

ABLE, SERGEANT LEN

Played by Patrick Mower

Leonard Able is a lazy, conniving troublemaker who tries to make his captain’s life hell in England. Together with the love of his life, Sergeant Tilly Willing, he tries anything to avoid having to work at the experimental 1313 anti-aircraft battery.

ABROAD, CARRY ON

See feature box here.

ABULBUL, SHEIKH ABDUL

Played by Bernard Bresslaw

Leader of the Arabs, the Sheikh has twelve wives and intends making Lady Jane Ponsonby, whom he’s kidnapped, number thirteen. Appears in various scenes during Follow That Camel, often attacking the garrison of his archenemies, the Foreign Legion.

ADAMS, GREGORY

Played by Kenneth Connor

This nervous, bumbling science teacher at Maudlin Street Secondary School is seen in Teacher. His hesitations and indecisiveness make for an ineffectual teacher, although there is no doubting his subject expertise. The arrival of Felicity Wheeler – a school inspector visiting Maudlin Street with Alistair Grigg, a child psychiatrist – becomes a major turning point in Adams’s life as he finds himself, almost reluctantly at first, falling in love with Wheeler.

ADAMS, JILL

Role: WPC Harrison in Constable

Blonde beauty Jill Adams, who was born in London in 1931, spent her early childhood in New Zealand before returning to England. After completing her education she held several jobs, including working as a shop assistant and secretary, before becoming a model.

Her good looks and shapely figure saw her heralded as Britain’s Marilyn Monroe, and it wasn’t long before offers of film work came her way. Appearing as an extra in Albert Broccoli’s The Black Knight in 1954, marked the beginning of many roles in, among others, Forbidden Cargo, One Way Out, Out of the Clouds, The Green Man and two Boulting Brothers’ films, Brothers in Law and Private’s Progress. Films in the Sixties include Doctor in Distress, The Comedy Man and Promise Her Anything . She’s also made occasional appearances on television.

ADAMS, MISS

Miss Adams, whose phone number is 663 404271, is mentioned by Sidney Bliss in Loving. When Terence Philpot’s first date with Jenny Grubb, which is arranged by Sid’s company, the Wedded Bliss Agency, is a disaster, he’s given Miss Adams’s phone number; an extremely irate Mr Philpot soon reports back, though, that date number two was equally unsuccessful, which isn’t surprising considering Miss Adams was already five months pregnant.

CARRY ON ABROAD

Alternative titles … What A Package, It’s All In, Swiss Hols In The Snow

A Peter Rogers production.

Distributed through Rank Organisation.

Released as an A certificate in 1972 in colour.

Running time: 88 mins.

CAST

PRODUCTION TEAM

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: Alan Hume BSC

Camera Operator: Jimmy Devis

Continuity: Joy Mercer

Assistant Director: David Bracknell

Sound Recordists: Taffy Haines and Ken Barker

Make-up: Geoffrey Rodway

Assistant Art Director: Bill Bennison

Set Dresser: Don Picton

Hairdresser: Stella Rivers

Costume Designer: Courtenay Elliott

Dubbing Editor: Peter Best

Assistant Editor: Jack Gardner