Carry On at 60 in The Telegraph

With the Carry On films turning 60 years young this year there has been a rather subdued flurry of articles about our favourite series of films in the press. I've just come across one of these, written by Andy Roberts for The Telegraph. 

I always read such pieces with trepidation as I hope the writer is going to treat the films and their long departed stars fairly. And I think, on the whole, Mr Roberts does just that. It's a very interesting piece which describes the very best and the very worst of the Carry Ons in glorious detail. 

While Roberts claims that the majority of the well-known cast of actors did their best work elsewhere, he does state that the films would have been nothing without their talents and there I wholeheartedly agree with him. Despite Peter Rogers claiming, as Roberts repeats, that the title Carry On was the star, we all know that wasn't true. It was those loyal, underpaid yet beautifully skilled comedy actors that kept as and indeed keep us coming back for more.

Andy Roberts flags up Norman Hudis for particular praise, believing that his first six films in the series were well written for the actors engaged to play his parts. I was also pleased to see actors such as Peter Butterworth and Patsy Rowlands given plenty of credit for their delightful contributions over the years. So often actors like Peter and Patsy are missed out in tributes. Roberts also pays tributes to the likes of Imogen Hassall, Jacki Piper and Elke Sommer and I'm so glad he has.

And he ends the piece with mention of my favourite Carry On of all time. You can read the article in full here although you may need to register with the site first. It's definitely worth a read.


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