Carry On Blogging Christmas Advent: 23 December

And so December is upon as once again and all this month I have been bringing you a different festive image from all those wonderful Carry On Christmas television specials. Today I am taking you back to Christmas 1969 for the very first special for Thames Television.

Produced not long after the last Carry On of the 1960s (Up the Jungle) finished filming, most of the cast from that film moved across to the telly production. Based around the classic tale of Scrooge, there is a starring role for none other than Sid James as a comic rendition of Scrooge himself. The rest of the gang pop up in a wide variety of outlandish roles and the whole thing moves along at a cracking pace. Despite some creaky sets and fairly low production values, you can't help but love it.

The photo above comes from the camper than camp panto sketch towards the end of the episode which is deliciously performed in increasingly filthy rhyming couplets! Terry Scott and Peter Butterworth bring all their stage panto experience to those gloriously awful ugly sisters you see book-ending poor old Sidney! 

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