Oh, hello!
They shook up British comedy and had audiences in stitches.
You're my friend!
You idiot!
Their films have entertained us for nearly 60 years,
with saucy slapstick and double entendre.
My, but you've got a big one.
The Brits have their own sense of humour. The Carry On films show that sense of humour.
No, it's rude.
This is the story of Britain's greatest comedy gang.
Revealing life behind the scenes.
We all like each other to start with.
We love each other, as a matter of fact. Don't we?
Extraordinary unseen photographs.
Oh, no, no, no.
Look!
Ah.
There he is.
And tales from those on the Carry On frontline.
Like little schoolchildren. Jumping up and down. 'Yeah, we did it!'
The elation that was there was quite genuine.
Aagh! Beg pardon.
It's 1969, and as the decade ends with messages of love and peace,
it's goodbye to the Beatles with their farewell performance,
and a big hello to Concorde as it makes its maiden flight.
Meanwhile, over at Pinewood,
after 17 fun-packed films,
the Carry Ons were clasped firmly to the bosom of the nation.
And at the peak of their popularity,
with their last two releases hitting the top of the box office charts.
Well, we'd better have a closer look at you, hadn't we?
If you would, Matron.
Cor!
What's wrong? Oh, nothing, no.
Nothing at all. It's all marvellous.
Carry On had gone back to hospital for their last film of the '60s.
But a new decade brought with it a new role
that left star Jim Dale speechless.
Along came a script called Carry On Up The Jungle.
I read it as the part of Tarzan.
I realised he doesn't do any talking.
It was very static.
I came to a very big decision.
I decided to turn down the film.
Jim left the gang behind to tread the West End boards.
Leaving the way clear for a big entrance for Terry Scott.
Last seen in Carry On Camping the previous year,
and the future star of TV hit sitcom Terry And June.
Aahhh-ahh-ahh!
Oof!
Originally called Carry On Jungle Boy,
Carry On Up The Jungle introduced audiences to 21-year-old Jacki Piper
in the first of her four Carry On Appearances.
How lovely!
I couldn't believe they'd given me the part to start with.
I'd done four years of theatre.
And I'd only done one tiny part in a film.
So I was absolutely amazed.
Seed.
Feed.
Led.
Bed. No, no.
Bead.
Bed.
Oh, dear. Here we go again!
Terry was great fun for me to work with.
He was so professional.
And so dedicated to everything being 100% right.
But Jungle did feature one scene
where there was a danger of the actors falling out.
(HORN)
Terry and I had this tender scene by the lake.
Haven't you seen a woman before?
'He was in his loincloth.'
We could notice people shaking with laughter.
We thought, something is very odd here. But we kept on going.
Me, June.
June.
Understand? Ah!
June. June.
No!
And when we finished, people burst out laughing, shaking.
'What's the matter?'
Terry looked down and he'd slipped out of his loincloth.
And everything was on view to all of them.
Aagh!
Blimey, double tops!
Up The Jungle saw the Carry Ons make a definite move to a more bawdy and suggestive kind of comedy.
But Jacki Piper wasn't the only actress making hearts flutter in Up The Jungle.
In Valerie Leon, had Britain found its own Raquel Welch?
They will do. Untie them.
Excuse me. Do you speak English?
It is the language of our king.
Oh, seeing myself now after 45 years,
I wish I still had that figure!
I just took it for granted then.
Where does this great Tonka of yours hang out?
In our valley beyond the mountains.
It is called Aphrodisia.
I enjoyed Jungle very much.
Yeah, I liked being Leda of the Lubidubis.
You must save all your strength for the work that lies ahead.
Work? What work?
In our country, there is only one useful occupation for men.
What's that? Why, to mate.
Mate?! What else?
Oh...mate!
The costume I wore was...
I believe it was made as a tribute
to the one that was worn by Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC.
And then for the mating ceremony,
they spent ages making me a costume
which was chains round my body.
So the costumes were...very sexy, I guess. Very sexy.
I now pronounce you ready and willing.
Behold your mates!
They're all yours.
Hang on! Hang on!
Oh, pretty, pretty!
I didn't mind being a Carry On girl.
I got an incredible amount of publicity and coverage,
in those days, in all the magazines and the papers.
Yeah, I guess it was great really.
These clips were filmed by a television crew
during the making of Up The Jungle.
We all like each other to start with.
We all love each other, as a matter of fact. Don't we?
This rarely-seen footage gives us a unique insight into life on set
for the cast and crew of the Carry Ons.
Action!
Upsidaisi, what are those drums saying?
They say... Boom-di-di-boom di-di boom boom boom.
I know that! What does it mean?
How should I know, boss? Fat lot of use you are.
Let's get moving. OK, boss.
The artists are important.
Although we use very well known names and they're wonderful people,
we don't really have a star.
The star is the title. Carry On.
How long will it carry on? Will you guess?
Anything in the pipeline after this one?
Oh, yes. We have the next two lined up, which will take us to 21.
After that, if the audience is willing, we will still carry on.
The audiences were indeed willing.
In fact, in 1970, they seemed very up for it.
Going all the way?
The Carry Ons had already flirted with nudity.
But in a rapidly changing Britain,
producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas
jumped onboard the sexual revolution
with a film that was very different to the innocence of their earlier offerings.
By the time they made Carry On Loving in the spring of 1970,
certainly permissiveness was at its height.
And people could talk about the Pill and free love.
You must be joking!
The '60s had changed society so much that there were no more taboos really.
Have you had it? Not yet.
But after Carry On Loving had audiences hot under the collar,
the Carry Ons covered up for their next film.
With a return to the hysterical historicals marking a moment the cast had all been waiting for.
Oh, come on, what's keeping her?
You know the Queen, sire. Never on time for anything.
This is the last time she'll keep me waiting. Ha!
Indeed, sire. Unless she's late for her own funeral!
There was a whole fanfare building up
about the fact that they were making their 21st film.
Carry On Henry, they wanted it to look good.
And they spent some money on it too.
Just over £220,000, which was a record for Carry On at that time.
You see? All guards removed.
I'll leave you now. But remember, I know nothing of tonight's venture.
One moment, milord.
I would also like your word that if anything goes wrong,
you will not divulge our real intent.
You have my hand on it.
And may good fortune attend on you.
Carry On Henry would also mark a milestone for two regular members of the gang.
The tenth Carry On appearances for firm favourites Kenneth Connor and Peter Butterworth,
who struck up a lifelong friendship through the films.
Today, Peter's son Tyler and Kenneth's son Jeremy
are meeting for the first time to look through previously unseen photographs
taken on the set of the Carry Ons.
And to remember their dads, and a childhood spent in the magical playground of Pinewood.
Look at this lot.
Good grief. Did you know this existed?
No. I didn't know it was here.
This is stuff that nobody's ever seen, is it?
Yeah. Shall we grab a couple?
Why not?
Look at this.
Excellent.
Now then.
That's Dad.
God!
Our dads always played similar characters, in a way.
Yep, the buffoon.
Consumed by lust usually.
Especially your dad.
Lady Bagley, I'm terribly sorry. I thought...
Oh, why should I lie? I'm not sorry.
I adore you. I've been longing to take you in my arms like this.
Mr Chumley! Kindly remove your person from my person.
My dad was quite a private person.
Quite a... At home in his own life,
there was a very different persona to this bumbling kind of incompetent.
He was very well read.
He loved naval history.
I think that's why they got on so well.
This is not good enough. Can't you see that my wife's undressed?
Yes, I see. I see.
She's very lovely. You a very lucky man.
You think so? Boom boom.
Ohh! Stanley, will you get him out of here?
Oh, no, no, no.
Look!
That's me at two and a half or something.
You're in it.
Not just visiting the set. A demanding role.
I had to play my father's son.
That was great.
Hello, darling. Hello, son.
Hello, Dad.
I didn't know this existed.
Gosh, look at that.
It's lovely to see these.
It brings you straight back to your childhood, doesn't it?
The behind the scenes stuff.
It's a strange feeling.
It brings an awful lot of stuff back.
And to spending time with him.
Could I speak to Mr O'Sullivan, please?
Barnes, get rid of that. Right.
I was in HMV in Oxford Street not long ago, looking for something.
I suddenly heard my dad's voice behind me.
I'm a police detective. I'll shall take down anything you say.
All right. Trousers.
They had a big screen on. It was Carry On Screaming.
But it was just a moment of hearing that voice. The hairs go up on your neck.
It's strange that we will forever have them around.
By 1971, Britain had gone from sexual to industrial revolution.
Stop the strikes and start the work.
Trade union power was at its peak.
While others thought Britain was going down the pan.
But Carry On At Your Convenience
would not leave the team flushed with success.
I seem to remember that you got very upset
when they banned you women from wearing trousers.
What do you say to that? Down with 'em!
Cheeky, Bernie!
Carry On At Your Convenience was the only time really
that they made a complete dud of a Carry On in terms of box office.
Uh-oh, old Tinderbottom's off again. Another bloomin' strike, I suppose.
Oh, no. What's it for?
You know our Vic. He never has known what it's for!
A very right-wing, established, financially secure film company
taking the mickey out of the unions
is not good for your audience when most of your audience is beer, fish and chips, down the pub people.
Come on, brothers. Keep the line moving.
So for them to go and watch what they believe in being ridiculed is not going to work!
So it wasn't popular at all.
With the audience out in protest,
producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas
returned to familiar territory
for a much needed injection of traditional Carry on humour.
I think the reason that the medical ones worked
is that it was a field day for the writers
to put in relentless jokes again.
With the title having been already registered in 1968,
Carry On Matron would be the last outing for Terry Scott.
Blimey, she looked upset. I just told her she was pregnant.
Is she really? No, but it cured her hiccups.
But it would also mark a welcome return for Terry's Up The Jungle co-star Valerie Leon.
Is it bad, Miss Darling?
Oh, yes.
I can give you a jab to kill it for a bit.
Yes, please, Doctor.
I remember writing to Gerald Thomas, director, and Peter Rogers, producer,
and saying just to let you know,
since I last worked with you,
I've broadened my experience.
And therefore hope I shall have the pleasure of working for you again.
Won't be long now, Miss Darling.
Ohh! Hurry up, nurse!
I'm coming!
(SCREECHING TYRES)
Ooh! You idiot!
You've given me the lot!
A week later, a letter arrived from Peter Rogers. Short and sweet.
'Dear Valerie, as long as experience is the only thing you've broadened,
there's every chance of you working for us again.'
And true to his word, a week later he cast me in their current film, Carry On Matron.
I was to be Jane Darling.
An actress who gave birth to triplets.
Nurse, did you... Yes, she did.
And she was absolutely wonderful.
Three little Darlings! Three Dar...
Ohh...
Once again, Pinewood Studios came into its own
with these corridors doubling up as the Finisham maternity hospital.
Doing the rounds for her fourth and final Carry On was Jacki Piper.
This is the famous corridor where we filmed Carry On Matron.
Excuse me. Are you expecting to or have you had it?
No, but if you can spare the time...
Wait in there, please. Thank you.
Here is the photograph of them all.
Cor! What's the matter?
Just shows you the power of suggestion.
What are you talking about? I felt it kicking.
You'll feel something kicking all right if you don't belt up.
Looking at this photograph brings it all back.
We had such fun. We used to laugh so very much.
I was always in tow with Hattie Jacques, of course.
She was my matron.
I was her assistant, so we moved as a team together.
Come on, Mrs Tidy. Let's get to sleep.
I'm still hungry.
It's not good to go to sleep on an empty stomach.
I'd hardly call yours empty, Mrs Tidy.
She's had two of everything for supper, Matron.
And two mugs of cocoa.
We can't let her go to sleep hungry, can we, Sister?
What about a nice big glass of...castor oil?
Good night.
Of course, I used to spend all day here at Pinewood delivering babies.
And when we came to the opening night,
I discovered I had indeed become pregnant.
The magic of the Carry Ons!
Mr Tidy, congratulations. Your wife's just had a fine boy.
At last! I told you to use dynamite, didn't I?!
Did you hear that, mates? I've got boy!
I did absolutely love it.
It became a way of life.
Because it was like belonging to a family.
It was wonderful reunions twice a year.
And making the films.
It was absolutely unbeatable.
Carry On Matron was delivered a record six days ahead of schedule.
Surely the cast deserved a well earned treat for their next Carry On outing in 1972.
Carry On Abroad, a bit like Carry On Cruising ten years earlier,
was tapping into a new idea of holidaymaking.
Package holidays was all the rage.
The half-finished hotels and the lousy food. All that.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcoming to Palace Hotel.
Oh. We are in the right place, then?
Yes. This No.1 first-class hotel on islands!
When I was asked to do Carry On Abroad,
I thought, oh, what fun.
I wonder where we'll go.
Which beach? You know.
But of course, we went to the car park at Pinewood.
The glamour of filming is not always what it might seem.
Despite the gritty realities of the Costa del Pinewood,
Abroad would go down as a Carry On classic,
and the last film to feature the now familiar gang.
What's it to be, then?
Champagne! Put a drop of this in it.
Oh, what a wonderful idea!
Oh, no. Lock all the doors. Time, gentlemen, please.
It would be Charles Hawtrey's last Carry On.
And his last-ever film role.
For years, Hawtrey had battled alcoholism.
And by the '70s, his dependence on the bottle
had become a problem during production.
His roles in the Carry Ons were now being written to accommodate his need for a drink on set.
In 1972, Carry On Abroad was going to be made.
Again, he was...
He was portrayed, by this point,
as a...
..mother-obsessed alcoholic.
Which he was.
Don't forget, Eustace dear, none of that oily food.
And take your syrup of figs regularly every night.
Yes, Mummy. But do stop worrying. I shall be quite all right.
Goodbye, dear. Goodbye, dear.
Take care. Yes, dear.
At the earliest opportunity, he heads to the bar
and has not just one drink
or two drinks or three drinks, but four drinks and so on.
It was real life being played out on the screen.
While it would prove the end of Charles Hawtrey's Carry On career,
Abroad was only the beginning for 22-year-old Sally Geeson.
Hello. Hello.
Lovely, isn't it?
I was in a bikini an awful lot of the time in Carry On Abroad.
There was one scene when the heavens had to open.
It had to pour with rain.
Enjoy the sunshine! Something you can't muck up.
Well, Wonder Tours especially chose Elsbels for the perfect holiday weekend
because of its wonderful sunshine record.
(THUNDER)
It didn't rain, so they brought fire engines in.
We were all hosed down with fire engines.
It's only a shower! It'll clear up later!
It's probably raining in London!
Each new Carry On casting was big news in the press.
So for Sally Geeson's debut,
a scrapbook of cuttings was kept by the production team to mark the occasion.
Oh, look at this! Carry On Abroad.
Today, it's held in the archives of the British Film Institute in London.
Oh!
Oh, how lovely.
'Sally hits pay-dirt with Sid.' Wow.
Another one. 'Carry On career for Sally.'
There we go.
Hello, girls. Hello, Mr Tuttle.
I say, how about another little game before dinner, eh?
No, thanks, Mr Tuttle. Come along, Marge.
Ohh... Hey, I'll get you!
Goodness gracious!
I can't believe it.
'A new start for Sally.'
How funny. It does bring back lots of memories.
It's as though I'm back there.
Ohh!
Will you let go of me?!
Look at this. Film review. There's a film review here about the film.
'Come to the island of Elsbels
where the skies are blue and the jokes too.'
Food. I could do with some after all that romping about.
Vic, I'd like a roll. Let's go upstairs.
I mean a sausage roll. Oh.
To see this today is such a wonderful surprise for me.
To see the whole thing contained in this wonderful book.
All the press articles and photographs of Carry On Abroad.
How wonderful that it's all been captured here.
It will never go away.
Abroad was the perfect package.
But with audiences demanding cruder comedy,
could the Carry Ons stand and deliver?
Why have we stopped? It's Dick Turpin, ma'am.
Blimey!
The early '70s saw feminism hit the headlines.
Controversy surrounded the Miss World contest in London,
with angry protesters disrupting the ceremony.
Producer Peter Rogers must have been watching.
In 1973, the Carry Ons would deliver their own take on women's lib.
Well, with a bit of glamour thrown in to make it easier on the eye.
I'll take bust any time!
Bust! Any time!
Carry On Girls, they had the opportunity
to do quite a naughty Carry On movie really.
With loads of gorgeous glamour girls.
Perfect Carry On material.
Forward, liberators of Fircombe!
Firmly opposed to the exploitation of women in beauty contests
was June Whitfield's character.
As you all know, this degrading spectacle
is due to take place at 3pm on Saturday in the Pier theatre.
Our primary objective now is to ensure that it does not.
Hear hear!
Miss Prodworthy, she was a feminist, I suppose.
And against the beauty contest.
And thought the whole thing was dreadful.
It was all about bra burning and things.
Aagh!
What's that? It's only a donkey.
But despite the admirable political undertone,
it was a scene with a donkey and a silver bikini that stole the show.
I tell you what we're going to do.
We'll get one of the girls to sit on the donkey... What's the matter?
Oh, gosh.
Are you ready for me now? More than ready, darling.
29-year-old Margaret Nolan had had small parts in four earlier Carry On films,
but this would prove her biggest scene.
I thought Carry On Girls was very funny.
Cheeky, sexy.
I remember the silver bikini, of course.
Geared to come undone.
Oh, just a minute. I've still got my robe on.
Hang on.
I knew it!
You thieving bitch!
I was pregnant when I was working on Carry On Girls.
My bosoms were out to there, that's the truth.
Well, no, that's undermining my extraordinary talent.
We thought it might be risky, me rough and tumbling on the floor.
But I don't think I did. I just did it.
I don't think we knew what was going to be happening quite.
Like a lot of the stuff in Carry On, it was spontaneous.
Carry On was doing it for the girls.
Although mainly for the boys, if the truth be told.
(WOLF WHISTLE)
This was a film brand which celebrated everything its female stars had to offer.
Alongside Margaret Nolan, Alexandra Dane
was another of the film's most famous buxom bombshells
regularly hired by Peter Rogers.
They call me Busti. Really?
But how do the girls feel about their perhaps controversial roles 40 years on?
Weren't we dizzy? Weren't we dizzy in those days?!
We were playing dizzy parts. I know, but... I know we were.
We could have been intellectual. We could have worn glasses.
Exactly. Covered up the boobs.
As soon as you've got a nice figure and you're showing it...
You're cast. You're definitely dizzy, yeah.
Definitely dizzy, yeah.
People are prepared to pay handsomely for my favours.
Oh, blimey.
Here, I've only got a two-shilling piece.
Oh. I haven't got any change.
I used to have this thing of 'Why don't I put my bosoms on rollerskates
and send them to the studio?'
There's a brain here. Hello!
For a year, I said I don't want to take anything glamorous or bosoms.
I was nearly out of work for a year.
Something of enormous interest.
I bought a house out of this bosom
and I bought a car out of this bosom.
Fantastic.
Yeah, they worked very well for me.
I'm glad I had the experience of the Carry Ons and being a sexy, dumb blonde.
I'm glad, yeah.
That's great.
We'll shake on that!
Never mind how I got here. I'm here.
Right back to the very first film,
the Carry Ons had always had plenty on offer for their male fans.
Darling, let me rest my mince pies.
Knockout!
But by the mid-Seventies, other films had taken over in the driving seat.
So could the Carry Ons rise to the challenge?
Which one of you is looking for Big Dick?
He is. He is.
Yes, they could. In 1974, the Carry On team brought out Dick.
Where can we find Dick?
Search me! I've been living here for ten years and I've never found any.
Double entendre had given way to in-your-face innuendo.
All this talk about Big Dick! I've had enough of it!
Carry On Dick, it's a really good, robust, outrageous film.
But obviously it's the last film appearance for Hattie Jacques.
It's after ten o'clock, sir.
Goodness gracious me.
It was the end of an era for Carry On in more ways than one.
Hattie's weight had ballooned to 20 stone around the time of Carry On Abroad.
Now the film company's insurers were reluctant to underwrite her involvement on set.
She was eventually cleared for her role in Dick.
But it would be her last appearance in a Carry On.
I think it would be better if you left us.
I may have to say things that could prove shocking to anyone of your gentle upbringing.
Oh. Very well, sir. Thank you.
Sid James was cast in the role of the hunted highwayman.
But filming was overshadowed by the pressure of an affair with co-star Barbara Windsor.
After filming wrapped, Sid returned to the stage.
And a tour of the play The Mating Season.
This shining star of the Carry Ons was about to take his final bow
onstage at the Sunderland Empire.
It was 1976.
The 26th of April.
It was the first night of The Mating Season.
After Sid went on to the set,
I went down to my office.
I was only in there a couple of minutes.
Bang bang bang on my office door.
'Come quick! There's something wrong.'
I saw Sid slunmped on a sofa here.
The audience, they thought it was part of the show.
Completely and utterly thought it was part of the show.
I knew there was nothing I could do.
And dropped the house tabs down in.
(LAUGHS)
I wonder what they wanted.
(LAUGHS)
Sid treated everybody as if they were his dearest friends.
He was the helm of this boat called Carry On.
Sid was just delightful to work with.
I found him absolutely charming.
I had a lovely relationship with Sid.
And he always looked out for me.
I truly loved him. Lovely man.
1976 saw the death of Carry On favourite Sid James.
But producer Peter Rogers rallied his troops.
1-3-1-3 Battery!
Get on parade!
And did all he could to grab the public's attention.
Grr! Ooh!
Oh, tiger!
I think you're wonderful.
When are you going to savage me?
Windsor Davies was on familiar territory with his role as Sgt Tiger Bloomer.
Remarkably similar to his character in It Ain't Half Hot Mum,
the popular TV series that had begun two years earlier.
Meanwhile, it would be the first Carry On appearance for TV actor Patrick Mower.
Not worried about him!
I'm more worried about this. What do we do, eat it or rub it in?
You can bounce it off the ceiling for all I care.
It's like Carry On Sergeant, but with more sex.
What's the name of this game, Sergeant Major?
Er... Unarmed combat.
It works as a film really well. It's a funny film.
But I think it's stretching things a bit too far maybe.
Girls, fall in!
The British Film Board agreed.
The censors thought some of the scenes in Carry On England over the top.
Oh, yes, you did!
And made it the first Carry On film to be awarded an AA certificate.
Definitely not suitable for under-14s.
It's quite innocent by today's standards.
But in those days, it caused a great fuss.
Quiet! I'm going to make a couple of points here.
Ooh!
Although this saucy scene stayed in,
some would hit the cutting room floor.
The censors stepped in again
when the sergeant-major comes in
and he sticks up a picture of the German aeroplanes.
Aircraft recognition.
These is your new pin-ups!
I bet you can't tell the difference
between a couple of Heinkels and a pair of Bristols.
No, but I can recognise a Focke when I see one.
Which is the name of a German aeroplane.
And the censor cut that.
He wouldn't allow us to have it.
Good boy! That is why you is a sergeant.
Despite its inadequacies, Carry On England would boast the biggest prop in Carry On history.
Headquarters have at last agreed to send us
that most desirable piece of equipment to have handy in time of war,
namely a gun.
May God protect us all.
Letters reveal that producer Peter Rogers
borrowed an authentic anti-aircraft gun from the Imperial War Museum.
One still held in the museum's collection at Duxford.
PATRICK: Dear Mr Simkins, I must tell you that your beautiful gun,
when it came through the studio gates,
drew gasps of approval.
No-one in the studios has got a bigger gun at the moment.
Not even Bond.
(LAUGHS)
Ah.
There he is.
Here it comes.
Atten-shun!
# RULE BRITANNIA
Oh, look at it. What a wonderful thing.
I remember the handles.
That lever, you have to wind it round and round.
The girl who was playing the character
had rather large boobs.
She was winding and her boobs kept getting in the way.
(SQUEAK AND HORN)
I always remember Peter Rogers coming on the floor
saying that this is a genuine piece of history.
Fire!
Bloody hell! Don't shoot at them!
Shoot at them!
They went to a lot of trouble to actually borrow this
because it's a very valuable piece of equipment.
Fire!
You done it! You done it, my lovely boy!
We were actually firing a real gun.
We were like schoolchildren. Jumping up and down.
'Yeah, we did it!'
Everybody said... It was a bit like a party.
The elation that was there was quite genuine.
I love you! You can tell him that as well!
It certainly brings back really good memories of a very happy time in my life.
You wouldn't think you would get emotional about a gun, would you?
Despite bringing in the big guns,
Carry On England bombed at the box office.
Britain had moved on from kiss me quick comedy.
And leering one-liners had become sexist territory.
By '78, the team were desperate for a success.
With soft porn films like The Stud proving box office hits,
Rogers gathered what remained of his regular cast
and embarked on an ill-advised sex comedy.
Steward, are you coming?
Carry On Emmanuelle, by that point, they really had lost their way.
They didn't know what audience to go for.
The Carry Ons always would treat...sex...a bit like that.
They wouldn't say it.
They would allude to it.
And they would treat it with ambiguity.
But Carry On Emmanuelle just came out and said it.
May I take your coat?
Now I show you all over the...
Emmanuelle! You are naked!
Sacre bleu! I forgot I wasn't wearing a dress!
The storyline saw Suzanne Dannielle as a nymphomaniac
visiting her ambassador husband Kenneth Williams,
who had been persuaded to take the part out of loyalty to the films.
Understandably, he'd had serious reservations about the script.
I can't move! It's probably just cramp.
No! I'm in agony!
Straighten your legs. I can't straighten anything.
I'm completely bent.
Kenneth turns in this really strained performance.
He knows it, and you can see it as you're watching Kenneth, this is bad.
Kenneth Williams had always had a love-hate relationship with the Carry On films.
He contested the low salaries paid to the cast on every production.
His highest fee, just £6,000.
Yet he found it hard to say no.
Kenneth, very complicated man, very funny man.
One of the funniest men I've ever worked with.
And one of the saddest men I've ever worked with.
I heard the manager talking to two old ladies.
He said 'Did you enjoy the show?'
One them said... It was a revue. Sketches and songs.
And this woman said 'It were all right, but there were no plot.'
(LAUGHTER)
Williams was a natural orator.
And by the time of Carry On Emmanuelle,
regularly held court on the chat show circuit.
If you have a natural fluency, I alway have had,
I always go straight up to people and chat.
If I can't think of a line, I just say something from a popular song.
Like 'I like New York in June. How about you?'
But his showmanship as an entertainer belied a troubled private life.
Kenneth was, I suppose, a bit of a loner.
But on the set, when he was comfortable in your presence,
then he became a very nice person to talk to.
Because he would ask you lots of questions about yourself.
And then come out with some funny remarks about you.
So it was give and take.
I spent many pleasant hours with him.
Such a pity. A great loss.
Kenneth Williams would die in 1988 at his London flat
after an overdose of barbiturates.
His last words recorded in his diary...
Oh, what's the bloody point?!
Emmanuelle proved to be Williams' 26th Carry On.
And his last.
The film was savaged by the critics.
The golden age of Carry On was over.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
The regular gang
who had made us laugh for decades
would never come together
onscreen again.
Oh, hello!
Oh, shut up!
Cor!
Oh, I say!
He did not half crack that one,
did he not?
Fourteen years after Emmannuelle,
Carry On would return for its 31st and final film.
Though many of the familiar faces were missing,
some old favourites would be back.
Christopher Columbus? At your service, sir.
I'm told you're an Italian.
And some new ones.
I shall ask my brother what we have in stock.
It would be an ambitious resurrection of Britain's best loved comedy franchise
for one last adventure on the seven seas.
Looking back on Carry On Columbus,
it may not have been the big success that some of the major Carry On films were,
but it was amazing that, 40 years later,
the same producer, the same director,
were going to try to create the same thing.
Right you are, Columbus. How wise.
What makes you think he's up to it?
I have seen his testimonials.
It didn't quite capture what the old, original Carry On team were able to do instinctively.
But it's a nice memory to look back on.
31 films. You've never had it so good!
Over five decades of laughter.
The Carry Ons' achievement in British film history
remains unparalleled and unsurpassed.
You must start me!
I couldn't! I might bust your spring!
There has never been a more loved line-up in big-screen comedy.
Just hold it right there.
I hope that's your gun, Marshal.
The best thing about being in the Carry On films
was the endless memories that you have of those wonderful days.
I knew it was a mistake coming on holiday with you. Anything in trousers.
I think back now and I think, gosh, I'm glad I was part of that.
Oh, flap me sideways!
Ooh! Mm!
50 years on, it's still very entertaining.
Such a huge legacy. Huge.
They are all, I think, fondly remembered.
Ooh, I can hardly believe it!
They're great fun. And, as they say, they don't make them like that any more.
Ding dong!
Ha ha ha!
This is incredible!
They are still shown. They are still funny.
Long may they last.
Stop messing about!
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