The Carry On films were a long-running series of British low-budget comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. An energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres, they are seen as classic examples of how to do British humour.
Twenty-nine original films and one compilation film were made between 1958 and 1978 at Pinewood Studios, with an additional film made in 1992. The films relied on a repertoire of comedy actors which changed gradually over the years. The mainstays of the series were Kenneth Williams (26 films), Joan Sims (24), Charles Hawtrey (23), Sid James (19), Kenneth Connor (17), Hattie Jacques (14) and Bernard Bresslaw (14). One of the most iconic Carry On stars was Barbara Windsor, although she appeared in only ten of the films. Comedy legend Frankie Howerd is also associated with the Carry On films, but only appeared in two of them (Doctor and Up The Jungle)
The films' humour was in the British comic tradition of the music hall and seaside postcards. Many of them parodied more serious films - in the case of Carry On Cleo (1964), the Burton and Taylor film Cleopatra (1963).
The mainstay of Carry On humour was innuendo and the sending-up of British institutions and customs, such as the National Health Service (Nurse, Doctor, Again Doctor, Matron), the monarchy (Henry), the Empire (Up the Khyber) and the trade unions (At Your Convenience) as well as the Hammer horror film (Screaming), camping (Camping), foreigners (Abroad), the seaside (Girls), and caravanning holidays (Behind) among others. Although the films were very often slated by the critics, they were popular.
The series began with Carry On Sergeant (1958), about a group of recruits on National Service, and was sufficiently successful that others followed. A film had appeared the previous year under the title Carry On Admiral; although this was a comedy in a similar vein (with Joan Sims in the cast) it has no connection to the series. There was also an unrelated 1937 film Carry On London, starring future Carry On performer Eric Barker.
The characters and comedy style of the Carry On film series later moved into shows in other media. There was a television series titled Carry On Laughing, and several Carry On Christmas specials. There were also three stage shows: Carry On London, Carry On Laughing and Wot a Carry On In Blackpool.

Early films
In 1963 Talbot Rothwell took over the role of screenwriter. The settings became more ambitious, often parodying well-known films or genres. Coinciding with the sexual revolution, they featured more explicit sexual jokes and situations. The films made in colour in the '60s remain among the most popular of the series.
At one point, Talbot Rothwell sought and received permission to borrow several one-liners and quotes that Frank Muir and Denis Norden had written for the successful radio comedy series Take It From Here. Rothwell was a friend and colleague of Muir and Norden.

Back to black-and-white; originally scripted as a non-Carry On film called Call Me a Cab

In colour again; not considered a successful film in the canon

In black-and-white as a deliberate spoof of Film Noir in some sequences

In full colour again (as were all the rest), using costumes and sets left standing from filming portions of Cleopatra; contains the line voted as the funniest comedy movie line ever: "Infamy! Infamy! they've all got it in for me!" (Kenneth Williams)

A spoof horror film, with the Gothic atmosphere of a Hammer production. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted this the 40th greatest comedy film of all time. Harry H. Corbett guest-starred in the Sid James role. Most famous line is a lustily-delivered "Frying tonight!" from Kenneth Williams.

A Scarlet Pimpernel spoof.

A Foreign Legion parody, and an unsuccessful attempt to break into the American market by casting Phil Silvers as the lead — in a role written for Sid James, who had suffered his first heart-attack just before the film went into production.

The highest grossing film that year in the UK
The loss of the Carry On prefix from the titles of 'Don't Lose Your Head' and 'Follow That Camel' was due to the change of distributor from Anglo-Amalgamated to Rank. Both films were later re-issued with a Carry On... prefix.

Carry On Cabby (1963)
Carry On Jack (1963)
Carry On Spying (1964)
Carry On Cleo (1964)
Carry On Cowboy (1965)
Carry On Screaming (1966)
Don't Lose Your Head (1966)
Follow That Camel (1967)
Carry On Doctor (1967)
Carry On up the Khyber (1968)
Carry On Camping (1969)
Carry On Again Doctor (1969) Classic Carry On
Although the series continued to be popular in the early 1970s, there was a growing feeling among the cast and critics that the quality of the films was declining. British society was becoming more accustomed to seeing sexual content on screen, and the innuendos of the series no longer had the impact they did before, although they became noticeably stronger. Rothwell continued as writer.

The Wedded Bliss agency, run by Sidney and Sophie Bliss, is a picture of domestic happiness, until the customers walk out the door! This film tried to introduce younger stars into the mix, incorporating such newcomers as Jacki Piper, Imogen Hassall and Richard O'Callaghan in key roles.

This was the first box office failure in the series, something attributed to the film's attempt at exploring the political themes of the trade union movement — with, crucially, the unionists portrayed as buffoons. This apparently alienated the traditional working-class Carry On core audience, and the film did not return full production costs until 1976 after several international and television sales. This film is considered by many Carry On fans to be one of the best of the series. Richard O'Callaghan, Jacki Piper and Kenneth Cope play key roles along side the Carry On regulars.

After the problems caused by the topical and political nature of the previous film's story, this was a lightweight farce that returned to the familiar Carry On... setting of a large hospital. Matron featured all the main regular cast of the period with the exception of Peter Butterworth, and was the final Carry On for recurring players Terry Scott and Jacki Piper. The first appearance for Jack Douglas.

This film, about a disastrous package holiday where anything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong, was Charles Hawtrey's last Carry On.

The story of a struggling seaside resort's attempt to organise a beauty contest, and the efforts of militant feminists, to oppose it. This was the first film where key regulars Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey were both absent. The sexual humour in this film is notably less subtle than its predecessors. Robin Askwith was cast as a sexually naïve young man; a similar role to that which he would play in the later Confessions films.

The last Rothwell film, and the last to feature Sid James, Hattie Jacques, and Barbara Windsor. It is often seen as the last "true" Carry On.

Carry On Up the Jungle (1970)
Carry On Loving (1970)
Carry On Henry (1971) (with Sid James as Henry VIII)
Carry On at Your Convenience (1971)
Carry On Matron (1972)
Carry On Abroad (1972)
Carry On Girls (1973)
Carry On Dick (1974) (a Dick Turpin spoof) Into the 1970s
After Rothwell ended his run as writer in 1974, the already variable quality of the series took a sharp downturn. British society had changed significantly and Carry On humour now seemed dated and innocent. Moreover fewer and fewer of the established cast were now appearing in the films; Abroad had been the last Carry On film appearance for Charles Hawtrey and Dick the last for Sid James (who died in 1976), Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor. Owing to the withdrawal of American funding from British films, with a few exceptions, many of the most profitable British films during the 1970s were those adapted from television series (such as Steptoe and Son), or erotic comedies. The influence of these genres is keenly felt in the Carry On series' output of this period, with an increased sexual content and more television stars (such as Windsor Davies) appearing in place of regulars.

Basically a remake of Carry On Camping with several established Carry On regulars along with an influx of new actors in main roles including Windsor Davies, Ian Lavender, and headlining guest star Elke Sommer. This was the final Carry On film appearance for Bernard Bresslaw.

This film featured an almost entirely new cast. Although Carry On regular Kenneth Connor had a leading role the only other regulars present, Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth, had only small roles in the film. Windsor Davies who had joined the series with the preceding film again plays a major role. Other key roles are taken by established and recognisable actors Judy Geeson and Patrick Mower. A major commercial failure, this film was withdrawn from some cinemas after just three days .

A compilation of clips with specially filmed linking footage presented by Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor.

An attempt to revive the series by increasing the sexual content. This film is notable in that Jack Douglas plays a character other than his stuttering Alf Ippititimus-type persona, in this case a snooty butler.

Carry On Behind (1975)
Carry On England (1976)
That's Carry On! (1977)
Carry On Emmannuelle (1978) Decline

The next film after Carry on Regardless, What A Carry On was to have been set around an Amateur Dramatics group putting on a production of Romeo and Juliet but Hudis couldn't work it into a full feature script and it was incorporated into Teacher.

Conflicting reports state that the script for this film would have been written by Michael Pertwee or Norman Hudis (Hudis sounds more likely), had it gone ahead. The story revolved around a fire station, under the command of Sid James, and various attempts to train a bungling group of new recruits. Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey were to have played the supporting roles. The idea was abandoned because Gerald Thomas was afraid the film might suffer if a major disaster occurred at the time of its release.

Scripted by Norman Hudis, this story revolved around a group of RAF recruits. It got as far as pre-production, but was abandoned. This is probably what inspired the making of the failed Carry On England which had a similar plot.

See main article for more information.

During the Second World War, Talbot Rothwell and Peter Butterworth spent time interred in the same prisoner of war camp. Carry On Escaping was inspired by their experiences there and progressed as far in pre-production as a near-final script.

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A planned spoof of the then popular US soap, Carry on Dallas. A full script was written and casting offers made - including Kenny Williams, Kenny Connor, Jack Douglas, Suzanne Danielle, Joan Sims, Charlie Hawtrey (in a guest role) and Jim Dale. The script centred around the Ramming family (and not screwing which was dropped in an early draft as this could have endangered the A certificate). When the 'Who Shot JR' thing happened and Dallas became the most watched TV programme in the world at that time. Lorrimar then wanted a royalty about 20 times the size of the total budget to use the programme as a base - so the production dried up.

Carry On Down Under was loosely to have been based on the Neighbours series and its ilk. Location scouting had been carried out by Gerald Thomas, in Australia, but eventually the finance fell through. Essentially, Peter always liked the script for Carry On Dallas, and so a couple of years later the oil tycoons became sewage farmers and the whole thing shifted to Australia. Gerry Thomas had seen some locations there whilst on holiday and spoke to the Australian film commission who welcomed the idea with open arms. The scripts for Carry On Dallas and Carry On Down Under were identical!

See main article for more information.

What a Carry On... (1961)
Carry On Smoking (1961)
Carry On Flying (1962)
Carry On Spaceman (1962)
Carry On Escaping (60's or 70's)
Carry On Again Nurse (1979)
Carry on Dallas (AKA Carry on Texas) (1987)
Carry on Down Under (1988)
Carry On Again Nurse (1988) Unmade Carry On's
During the 1980s the Carry On films were viewed by many as representing the worst side of British attitudes to women and to sex. However, they were still very popular and were regularly broadcast on television.
In 1992, an attempt was made to revive the series with Carry On Columbus, co-inciding with the production of two serious movies on the subject and the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Americas. The producers managed to persuade a number of alternative comedians such as Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle, Peter Richardson, and Julian Clary to appear in the film as well as the comic actress Maureen Lipman, but it did not achieve any great commercial success and was panned by some critics.
Of all the original Carry On stars, only Jim Dale (playing the title role) and Jack Douglas appeared in the film – many of the others had died. Barbara Windsor, however, refused to appear after reading the script. A handful of other actors who had played a few roles in the original films, such as Peter Gilmore, Bernard Cribbins, Jon Pertwee, June Whitfield, and Leslie Phillips also appeared. Frankie Howerd had originally agreed to appear, but he passed away before filming, and the role was adapted to be played by Julian Clary.
The script, by Dave Freeman, was more polished than those he wrote for the Carry On films during the 1970s, including comment on colonialism as well as the obligatory innuendo and slapstick.

Regular actors