CARRY ON... EVERY MOVIE, EVERY STAR

As much a part of British culture as warm beer and fish and chips, the Carry On films were hugely popular at the box office and have now become cult films, beloved by some, scorned by just as many. Sex, home life, drunkenness, toilet humour, working class snobbery, busty young women and lecherous middle aged men, much of the human slapstick of Carry On owed a debt to children's comics like The Beano and The Dandy. The publication of the first issue of Viz in 1979, the year after the Carry On series ended for the first time, is no coincidence and they raised the profanity level. The team's first scribe Norman Hudis came from a play and screenwriting background and this is reflected in the gentle, relatively naturalistic style of the early Carry On films. Talbot Rothwell was a man with great experience writing comedy for stage, television and radio and his clients included Arthur Askey and Terry Thomas. Beginning with Carry on Cabbie in 1963 and ending with Carry on Camping in 1969, we recall with great mirth Carry on Doctor, Carry on Screaming, Carry on Follow That Camel, Carry on Sergeant, Carry on Nurse. For nearly all 31 Carry on films there are almost exhaustive cast lists and stats like distribution and production, filming dates, UK release, running time and budget, guest actors and memories galore as Sid James, Barbara Winsor, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Jim Dale and Charles Hawtrey strut among the superb repertory company. 128 page paperback reference, 32 colour illustrations.