| Carry On | |
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| Directed by | Gerald Thomas |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Peter Rogers |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
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| Distributed by |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Carry On is a British comedy franchise comprising 31 films, the success of which led to several spin-offs, includingfour Christmas television specials (1969–1973), a1975 television series of 13 episodes, aWest End stage show and two provincial summer shows, produced between 1958 and 1992. Produced byPeter Rogers, theCarry On films were directed byGerald Thomas and starred aregular ensemble that includedSid James,Kenneth Williams,Charles Hawtrey,Joan Sims,Kenneth Connor,Peter Butterworth,Hattie Jacques,Terry Scott,Bernard Bresslaw,Barbara Windsor,Jack Douglas, andJim Dale. The humour ofCarry On was in the British comic tradition ofmusic hall and bawdyseaside postcards.
TheCarry On series contains the largest number of films of any British film franchise, and is the second longest running, albeit with a 14-year gap (1978–1992) between the 30th and 31st entries. (TheJames Bond film series is the longest-running, having started in 1962, four years after the firstCarry On, though with fewer films.)
Rogers and Thomas were responsible for all 31 films, usually on time and to a strict budget, and often employed the same crew—some of whom were also regulars on the James Bond series, such asPeter Lamont,Alan Hume, andAnthony Waye. Between 1958 and 1992, the series employed seven writers, most oftenNorman Hudis (1958–1962) andTalbot Rothwell (1963–1974).Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd produced 12 films (1958–1966), andthe Rank Organisation made 18 (1966–1978), whileUnited International Pictures produced one (1992).
All films were made atPinewood Studios nearIver Heath,Buckinghamshire. Budgetary constraints meant that a large proportion of the location filming was undertaken close to the studios in and around south Buckinghamshire, including areas ofBerkshire andMiddlesex. However, by the late 1960s, at the height of the series' success, more ambitious plots occasionally necessitated locations further afield, which includedSnowdonia National Park, Wales (with the foot ofSnowdon standing in for theKhyber Pass inCarry On Up the Khyber), and the beaches of theSussex coast doubling as Saharan sand dunes inFollow That Camel.
Carry On Sergeant (1958) is about a group of recruits doingNational Service; its title, a command commonly issued by army officers to their sergeants in the course of their routine duties, was in keeping with its setting. The film was sufficiently successful to inspire a similar venture, again focusing on an established and respected profession inCarry On Nurse. When that too was successful, further forays withCarry On Teacher andCarry On Constable established the series. This initial 'pattern' was broken with the fifth film in 1961,Carry On Regardless, but it still followed a similar plot to that of many of the early films—a small group of misfit newcomers to a job make comic mistakes, but come together to succeed in the end.
The remainder of the series developed with increased use of the British comic traditions ofmusic hall and bawdyseaside postcards. Many titles parodied more serious films, such as their tongue-in-cheek homages to James Bond (Spying), westerns (Cowboy), andHammer horror films (Screaming!). The most impressive of these wasCarry On Cleo (1964), in which the budget-conscious production team made full use of some impressive sets that had been created in 1960 for theBurton andTaylor epicCleopatra (1963) but abandoned when production moved to Rome.Carry On Emmannuelle (1978), inspired by the soft-pornEmmanuelle, brought to an end the originalCarry On run.[2]
The stock-in-trade ofCarry On humour wasinnuendo and sending-up British institutions that the target audience would have experienced or be aware of, such as theNational Health Service (Nurse,Doctor,Again Doctor,Matron), the British state (Henry,Up the Khyber), the forces (Sergeant,England,Jack,Constable), holidays (Girls, Camping, Abroad) amongst others. Although the films were very often panned by critics, they mostly proved very popular with audiences.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In 2007, thepun "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", spoken by Kenneth Williams (playingJulius Caesar) inCarry on Cleo, was voted the funniestone-line joke in film history.[10] However, this line had originally been written byFrank Muir andDenis Norden forJimmy Edwards in the radio seriesTake It From Here some years previously.
A film had appeared in 1957 under the titleCarry On Admiral; although this was a comedy in similar vein (and even featured Joan Sims in the cast) it has no connection to theCarry On series itself. The much earlier 1937 filmCarry On London is also unrelated (though it coincidentally starred futureCarry On performerEric Barker).
The cast were poorly paid—around £5,000 per film for a principal male performer, female leads earnt less, between £2,000 to £3,000.[11] In his diaries Kenneth Williams lamented this, and criticised several of the movies despite his declared fondness for the series as a whole.[12] Peter Rogers, the series' producer, acknowledged: "Kenneth was worth taking care of, because while he cost very little [...] he made a very great deal of money for the franchise."[11] Phil Silvers was cast inFollow That Camel, partly to raise the franchise profile in the US, and was paid £30,000, far in excess of any of the regular actors.
TheCarry On series includes a broad cast across the films and other adaptations. The regular core ensemble cast was made up ofSid James,Kenneth Williams,Charles Hawtrey,Joan Sims,Kenneth Connor,Peter Butterworth,Hattie Jacques,Bernard Bresslaw,Barbara Windsor,Jim Dale,Patsy Rowlands,Jack Douglas andTerry Scott.
Several other films were planned, scripted (or partly scripted) or enteredpre-production before being abandoned:[13][14][15]
An intended sub-sequel to the successfulCarry On Nurse was renamed and made asCarry On Doctor in 1967.[16]Carry On Nurse was alluded to twice inCarry On Doctor, firstly with the sub-titles (one readingNurse Carries On Again andDeath of a Daffodil), and again in a later scene withFrankie Howerd commenting on a vase of daffodils in his hospital room. A second attempt atCarry On Again Nurse came in 1979, after the series left Rank Films and moved to Hemdale. A completed script had been written byGeorge Layton[18] andJonathan Lynn in 1977, but the attempt was cancelled due to the financial loss ofCarry On Emmannuelle.
The final attempt to createCarry On Again Nurse came in 1988, with a script written byNorman Hudis.[19] It was to revolve around a hospital set for closure, and set to star original actorsBarbara Windsor,Jack Douglas,Kenneth Williams,Charles Hawtrey,Kenneth Connor andJoan Sims, with Sims filling in the role of Matron that was previously held byHattie Jacques. The end of the film was going to be a tribute to Jacques, with Sims turning around a photograph of the actress and asking "Well, did I do alright?" (the script is included in the bookThe Lost Carry Ons). Production was scheduled to begin in June 1988, but the death of Williams two months previously, followed by that of Hawtrey six months later – combined with a budget of £1.5 million, which was deemed too expensive – proved to be the end of the film and it was cancelled.[20]
The final proposedCarry On, before Peter Rogers's death in 2009, wasCarry On London. Announced in 2003 by Rogers and producer James Black, it remained in pre-production well into 2008. The script was signed off by the production company in late March 2008, and "centred on a limousine company ferrying celebrities to an awards show".[21] The film had several false starts, with the producers and cast changing extensively over time. Only the little-known Welsh actressJynine James remained a consistent name from 2003 to 2008.[22]Danniella Westbrook,David Jason,Shaun Williamson andBurt Reynolds were also once attached to the project. It was announced in May 2006 thatVinnie Jones andShane Richie were to star in the film, which was to be directed byPeter Richardson, thoughEd Bye later replaced him as the named director.[23] At the 50th anniversary party held at Pinewood Studios in March 2008, Rogers confirmed that he was planning a series ofCarry On films afterLondon, subject to the success of the first.
In early 2009,Carry On London orCarry On Bananas was once again 'back on', withCharlie Higson attached as director, and a different, more modern, cast list involvingPaul O'Grady (as the acidic Kenneth Williamsesque character),Jynine James,Lenny Henry,Justin Lee Collins,Jennifer Ellison (as the saucyBarbara Windsor type),Liza Tarbuck (paralleling Hattie Jacques),Meera Syal,James Dreyfus, andFrank Skinner (filling in theSid James role). Despite new media interest and sets being constructed at Pinewood Studios, the film was once again put on hold, and the project was abandoned after the death of Peter Rogers in April 2009.[24]
In May 2016, producerJonathan Sothcott of Hereford Films announced plans for a new series ofCarry On films, beginning withCarry On Doctors andCarry On Campus. On 12 April 2017, Sothcott confirmed to the websiteThe Hollywood News that he was no longer involved with the film series.[25][26][27] As of September 2019, threeCarry On films were set to be filmed back-to-back, after Brian Baker won the rights to the movies following a legal battle with ITV earlier that year. Production of the new films had been planned to take place in spring 2020.[28] However, filming was postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic and little more was heard about the project until after the death ofBarbara Windsor in December 2020, when Baker announced that he would be using old footage of the actress in the film, saying "Barbara will be making an appearance."[29] Baker told theDaily Star Sunday that "we have got two new stories and we are looking to do one of the old ones again to bring it up to modern day quality – probablyCarry On Sergeant".[29]
Baker's company Carry On Films Ltd was later dissolved.[30]
The characters and comedy style of theCarry On film series were adapted to a television series titledCarry On Laughing, and severalChristmas specials.
In 1971,Music for Pleasure released a long-playing record,Oh! What a Carry On! (MFP MONO 1416), featuring songs performed by Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Kenneth Connor, Frankie Howerd, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor, andDora Bryan.
A 50-minute television documentary,What's a Carry On?, was made in 1998 for the 40th anniversary of the first film. It included archive clips, out-takes and interviews with surviving cast members. It was included as an extra on the DVD release ofCarry On Emmannuelle.
A two-hour radio documentary,Carry On Forever!, presented byLeslie Phillips, was broadcast in two parts onBBC Radio 2 on 19 and 20 July 2010. A three-part television retrospective with the same title, narrated byMartin Clunes, was shown onITV3 in the UK over Easter 2015.
TheCarry On film series has had numerous individual releases on VHS, and a number of VHSs were released in an eighteen VHS box-set on 1 September 2003.[31]
The film series was first released as a DVD box-set on 1 September 2008, by ITV Studios Home Entertainment.[32] Five years later, on 7 October 2013, it was re-released with smaller packaging.[33] All the movies contained in the collection are also available to buy individually.
Since 2013,StudioCanal has released a number of theCarry On films on Blu-ray, beginning withCarry On Screaming! (21 October 2013),Carry On Cleo (5 May 2014),Carry On Cowboy (2 June 2014) andCarry On Jack (7 July 2014).[34][35][36][37]
The success of theCarry On series occasionally led to affectionate parodies of the series by other contemporary comedians:
| Film | Year | Production budget (original £) | Production budget (2025 £) | UK gross (original £) | UK gross (2025 £) | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carry On Sergeant | 1958 | £73,000 | ~£1,830,000 | £500,000 | ~£12,550,000 | Budget and UK gross reported in independent film data compilations.[43] Inflation calculated using UK CPI (≈25.1× 1958–2025). |
| Carry On Columbus | 1992 | £2,500,000 | ~£6,610,000 | £1,600,000 (UK total gross) | ~£4,230,000 | UK box-office receipts reported in box-office tracking sources.[44] Inflation calculated using UK CPI (≈2.64× 1992–2025). |
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