Two Classic Carry Ons on the box this Saturday!

The television schedules have a couple of treats in store for Carry On fans this weekend with two classic series entries showing this coming Saturday 15 September. As usual they are on ITV3 and Film4, both now regular homes to different ends of the film franchise. While ITV3 tend to show the later, Talbot Rothwell era films, Film 4 shares the more innocent, usually black and white Norman Hudis gems.

So get these times in your film watching diaries!

Carry On Loving (1970) - ITV3, 15.05.

Carry On Loving is the twentieth in the series to be made, and was released in 1970. By 1970 times were most certainly a changing. The cosy postwar years which launched the Carry Ons were long gone and everything was a lot more liberated and up front, as it were. After nearly twelve years of hit films, the Carry On team were still at the top of their game but perhaps there was felt to be a need to adapt and change to maintain their position at the top of the comedy charts? Carry On Loving saw an attempt at this. Basically Loving is a saucy seventies tribute to Norman Hudis' classic 1961 film Carry On Regardless. Instead of the Helping Hands Agency of the earlier film, this 1970 update saw Talbot Rothwell set the film at the Wedded Bliss Matrimonial Agency, run by Sid and Sophie Bliss. Loving even saw the outside of the Wedded Bliss Agency filmed on the same location in Windsor that had been used for Regardless almost a decade earlier.It features series regulars Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Bresslawalongside newcomers Richard O'Callaghan (in his first Carry On) and Imogen Hassall (in her only Carry On role). The dialogue veers toward open bawdiness rather than the evasive innuendo characteristic of the earlier films in the series. 

Further reading: Carry On Blogging: Hattie Carries On as Sophie Bliss
Carry On Blogging: Five Reasons I Love Carry On Loving 

Carry On Constable (1959) - Film4, 17.00. 

Another glorious black and white feature, this film yet again plays to Norman Hudis' strengths by focusing on another British institution, the police force. There's the figure of authority pitched against a group of bumbling incompetents too as new recruits battle to success during a flu epidemic at the local station. This film marks a major turning point for the Carry Ons as it sees the debut of a certain Mr Sidney James in the starring role of Frank Wilkins. It's a fairly low key entrance for Sid, given what was to come but it's a superb performance and it's clear he's firmly in charge! Eric Barker returns for the first time since Sergeant, playing a similar officious role while the new recruits are played with relish by Leslie Phillips, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Connor. Throw in some lovely supporting turns from Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques and a cameo from original Carry On girl Shirley Eaton and you have a great afternoon matinee film to enjoy!

Further reading - Carry On Blogging: Connor Carries On as Constable Constable!
Carry On Blogging: Joan Carries On as WPC Gloria Passworthy
Carry On Blogging: Hattie Carries On as Laura Moon

I hope you enjoy them both!

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram 

Bernie Carries On … As Gripper Burke!

Over the past year I have written a series of blogs covering each of the roles of some of our favourite Carry On stars. I began my looking back at each film role played by the three leading ladies in the series - Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor - and most recently I've written about all of Kenneth Connor's Carry On performances in the run up to the great man's centenary. 

Today I am continuing a new strand of this series by turning the spotlight on that gentle giant of British comedy, the late Bernard Bresslaw. Probably one of the most under-rated actors in the main team, Bernard was a part of the series for ten years and fourteen films, tackling a superb range of crumbling villains and delightfully dimwitted foils to the likes of Sid James and Kenneth Cope. Bernard enjoyed a long career away from the Carry Ons and spent much of his later life wowing audiences in legitimate theatre. However he will forever to remembered for his clutch of hilarious Carry On supporting turns. 

Bernard joined the Carry On team in the mid 1960s and along with Peter Butterworth was the last main team member to join the gang. Along with Butterworth, Bernard played a series of smaller, supporting roles to begin with before graduating to major roles towards the end of the decade. Bernard fitted in effortlessly with the rest of the team and he's the kind of actor who is working hard but making it look oh so easy. A quiet, erudite, thoughtful family man away from the film studios, I often think Bresslaw has never received the credit he's due as like Connor and Butterworth, he didn't ever seek the limelight or splash his life over the front pages.

So today, we'll continue this new series looking at Bernard's role as the grunting, snarling wrestler Gripper Burke in the 1970 film Carry On Loving.

By 1970 times were most certainly a changing. The cosy postwar years which launched the Carry Ons were long gone and everything was a lot more liberated and up front, as it were. After nearly twelve years of hit films, the Carry On team were still at the top of their game but perhaps there was felt to be a need to adapt and change to maintain their position at the top of the comedy charts? Carry On Loving saw an attempt at this. Basically Loving is a saucy seventies tribute to Norman Hudis' classic 1961 film Carry On Regardless. Instead of the Helping Hands Agency of the earlier film, this 1970 update saw Talbot Rothwell set the film at the Wedded Bliss Matrimonial Agency, run by Sid and Sophie Bliss. Loving even saw the outside of the Wedded Bliss Agency filmed on the same location in Windsor that had been used for Regardless almost a decade earlier.

Sid James and Hattie Jacques are the stars of Loving, running through the hotch potch action and large cast of favourites. Sid and Hattie had tremendous chemistry which had been honed as far back as the Hancock shows in the 1950s. They first appeared together as a romantic duo in Carry On Constable in 1960 with further double acts in the likes of Carry On Cabby in 1963. Although my favourite Sid pairing is with Joan Sims, Sid and Hattie were also very believable as husband and wife. Sid and Hattie provide the backbone for all the youthful, romantic antics in Loving. Peter Rogers brought in a number of fresh young faces to balance out the more established stars such as Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw and Kenneth Williams. In the likes of Richard O'Callaghan, Jacki Piper, Imogen Hassall and Julian Holloway, had Peter found the foundations of the next generation of Carry On stars?

Well not quite, although all but Imogen would return for more films. Terry Scott was also on board bridging the gap between younger cast and the more mature stars. Hattie's main interactions in the film are with Sid, Kenneth and Charles. Her nemesis was Joan Sims as the object of Sid's affections, Esme Crowfoot. Of course Hattie and Joan were the best of friends in real life but they made for the best of adversaries in this Carry On, although sadly they don't get to share much screen time. 

So what about Bernard's role in the film? Well I think this is probably Bernard's smallest role in all of his fourteen Carry Ons. It's pretty much a cameo role and he only really makes his first appearance around half way through the picture. Much like his other film cameo of 1970, as the wrestler in Frankie Howerd's Up Pompeii, Bernard is on grandstanding form as a picture of hulking, brutish, potent masculinity! Gripper, returning from his travels, hopes to pick up where he left off with girlfriend Esme Crowfoot (Joan Sims). However in his absence Sidney Bliss (Sid James) has started sniffing round and they are pretty much caught in flagrante delicto. As poor Esme tries to calm a snarling Gripper, Sid makes for the exit dressed in Esme's frillies, down her back entrance, as it were. Sadly for the innocent abroad in all this, Bertie Muffett, he picks this moment to turn up looking for a date with Esme. This gives Bernie a chance to throw some shapes as he tosses a stunt double Bertie round Esme's very seventies flat! 

Bernard makes his next appearance much later in the film, as an unwitting accomplice to the cunning Sidney Bliss! After his common law wife Sophie (Jacques) takes up with the snooty Percival Snooper (Kenneth Williams - who else) Sid plots to get Sophie back. Sending an unsuspecting Esme round to Snooper's all dolled up and be-cleavaged, Sophie takes off after catching Esme ripping off Percival's trousers to reveal a rather fetching pair of bright orange boxer shorts! As Esme makes with the seduction techniques, in bursts Gripper who attacks Snooper! Which brings us to one of my favourite scenes in the entire film, as Patsy Rowlands storms in, playing Snooper's lovestruck housekeeper and teaches Gripper a few new moves!

It's a lovely moment and provides yet another dollop of pure farce but it's expertly played by some of our finest comedy actors. Poor Bernie plays the hapless Gripper with a combination of pure grunting butch and comedic thicker and it's yet another role he could easily have phoned in had he wished. Of course a talented, committed professional like Bresslaw would never do such a thing which is why, much like Charles Hawtrey in Up The Jungle, Bernard's small role in Loving almost steals the film.

Bresslaw makes one final appearance in Carry On Loving and it's as part of the climatic wedding reception cake fight scene. It's actually Gripper Burke who sets the events in motion as he spots Sid's suit as the one drying in Esme's flat! Before he can properly kick off, Esme clouts him one with the end of a champagne bottle. Too late though, as all hell breaks loose! Bernie is last seen as the final credits role, been beaten over the head by a baguette wielding Hattie Jacques!

Sure Bernard had better roles in the series and certainly bigger ones, but I love his snarling turn as wrestler Gripper Burke. I don't know why it wasn't a bigger part (I'm sure someone out there can tell me what else Bernard was working on at the time) but as ever I'm just glad to see him as part of the cast.

So those are my thoughts on Bernard's role in Carry On Loving. Stay tuned for my next blog in this series, as I look back at Bernard's role in Carry On At Your Convenience!

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

My Top 20 Favourite Carry On Actors: Number 17 - Joan Hickson

This is part of a brand new series of blogs where I will take a purely personal look at my favourite Carry On actors. I will be doing a countdown of my top twenty actors and actresses in this, the sixtieth anniversary year of Carry On. So why top twenty? Well top ten didn't allow me to include all my favourites and any more than twenty and I'd be at it forever, as it were.

This top twenty will be a mix of regular top team actors and many of those instantly recognisable supporting actors who popped in and out of the series, adding superb cameos here and there. You will probably agree with some of my main choices and be vehemently opposed to others, but it's meant to encourage debate! 

So here we go with Number Seventeen: that instantly recognisable character actress who rose to fame relatively late in life - Joan Hickson.

 

Many years before Joan Hickson rose to lasting prominence as the definitive Miss Marple in those wonderful BBC adaptations of Agatha Christie's novels, she was a reliable character actress appearing in countless films and television. Joan regularly appeared in British films in an endless array of supporting roles from the 1930s onwards and as in demand as she always was, she still made time to appear in five Carry On films over a fifteen year period.

Joan remains one of my favourite Carry On actors because she was just such a joy to watch. No matter what the size of her role in the film, she always added a touch of class. Her first appearance in the Carry Ons was her largest supporting role, playing the brisk, authoritative Sister with a heart of gold in the classic Carry On Nurse in 1958. She returned for smaller roles in two more black and white Carry On epics - as the very merry Mrs May in Constable and then the role of Matron in the hospital sequence in Carry On Regardless.

Nearly a decade later Joan returned to Pinewood to play the cameo role of Mrs Grubb in the hilarious afternoon tea scene in Carry On Loving. The beautifully played, farcical comedy of errors scene features the first meeting of Terry Scott and Imogen Hassall and Joan is just superb as the Grubb matriarch. To be honest, her role in that sequence pretty much guarantees her a spot in my top 20 alone! Joan's final Carry On supporting role was as the hilarious, eccentric hotel resident Mrs Dukes in Carry On Girls in 1973. Despite this role being written for Renee Houston (who was too ill to play it) Joan makes the part her own, as only she could!

 

The Carry On films became well known for the quality of the actors they employed and surely Joan Hickson is near the top of the tree in this regard. One of our most accomplished actresses, her performances are timeless.

So Joan Hickson comes in at Number 17 in my top twenty list of favourite actors. Who'll be next?

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram

Happy Valentine's Day from Carry On Blogging!

Happy Valentine's Day! And what better way to celebrate Carry On style, than with a wallow in the classic Carry On Loving. No other Carry On focuses so entirely than all things romantic. So let's look back at some of the antics of those who found love with the help of Sidney and Sophie Bliss.

First up, how not to behave when meeting the future inlaws for the first time:

And if you ever need matrimonial advice, Carry On Loving teaches us to stay well clear of one Percival Snooper..

And finally, how not to behave at a wedding reception (even if it does look like a lot of fun):

Whatever you are up to this Valentine's Day, I hope you have a smashing time!

Carry On!

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also on Facebook

Whatever Happened to Valerie Shute?

 

I've been running an occasional series of blogs looking at the lives and careers of some of the lesser known names connected with the Carry On films. The Carry Ons featured a cast of many wonderful character actors who added a touch of class to our favourite series of British comedy films. Recently I've looked at actors who played fairly small roles in some of the early Carry Ons - Freddie Mills, Denis Shaw and Anna Karen.

Today I am looking back at the career of an actress who only ever had small roles in the films but still managed to appear in several titles for Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas. Valerie Shute is not a widely known name these days but she is still remembered by Carry On fans, probably for one role more than any other and she didn't even have any lines! Quite a feat! 

 

Valerie appeared in five Carry Ons between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her first appearance came in the classic Carry On Camping in 1968. She played Pat, one of the Chayste Place girls who accompany Headmaster Dr Soaper (Kenneth Williams) and Matron (Hattie Jacques) to the Paradise Camp site where they attract the attentions of several male campers, especially Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw, before escaping with a bunch of hippies at the end of the film. Valerie can be seen throughout although her part, as with many of the actresses playing the school girls, is fairly negligible. She obviously proved herself to Peter Rogers though as she was back at Pinewood and working for the legendary producer once again the following year. Valerie was cast as one of the nurses in the third medical film in the franchise, Carry On Again Doctor. Valerie is seen in the speeded up sequence that sees Long Hampton hospital fly into chaos thanks to the bumbling antics of Dr Nookey (Jim Dale).

In 1970 Valerie grabbed her most memorable Carry On role with the part of the Girl Lover in the saucy dating agency comedy Carry On Loving. This memorable part lacked any lines to speak of (pardon the pun) but Valerie popped up all over the place throughout the film, always locked in a passionate embrace with her on-screen boyfriend played by future Citizen Smith and Last of the Summer Wine favourite, Mike Grady. Apparently Mike still regards this brief role as one of his favourites because he got to spend all day snogging Valerie Shute! Over the course of the film the pair crop up on the top deck of a London bus, in a lift with Sid James, in a phone box, in the back of a Mini and finally, under the table at the climatic wedding banquet which ends with Valerie taking one of Pinewood Canteen's very best cream cakes square in the face!

 

In October of the same year, Valerie filmed a role as a Maid in the very grand, rather splendid 21st film in the series, Carry On Henry, however sadly the role was cut from the final print. Valerie took on her last Carry On role almost a year later when she played patient Miss Smethurst in Carry On Matron. Probably her most prominent Carry On role, Valerie featured in a short scene at Finisham Maternity Hospital with the memorably named Dr Prodd (Terry Scott). And that, as they say, was it in terms of Carry On for Valerie Shute. So what else did Valerie get up to in her acting career?

Carry On Camping was actually Valerie's screen debut. Further small roles followed away from the series including parts on television in the Please Sir! spin-off, The Fenn Street Gang in 1971, Secret Army in 1977, The Danedyke Mystery in 1979 and the following year, a recurring role in the Yorkshire Television soap opera, Emmerdale Farm. In 1981 Valerie was part of the cast of How We Used to Live, an education drama tracing the lives of a fictional Victorian family in rural Yorkshire. Valerie made her last screen appearance to date two years later in 1983 when she was in the cast for the Alan Plater television play, Pride of Our Alley. After that, it looks as if Valerie retired from the acting profession. 

 

Valerie Shute was born in London in 1945. In November 1973 she married writer Willis Hall and they remained together until his death in 2005. Willis formed a well regarded writing partnership with his childhood friend Keith Waterhouse. Some of Hall's most famous works include the bitter-sweet comedy film Billy Liar, A Kind of Loving and Whistle Down The Wind. On television he created the series Budgie for Adam Faith and the comedy series Queenie's Castle for Diana Dors. In all he wrote over 40 radio and television plays and twelve children's books including the Vampire series of titles.

If anyone has any more information on Valerie's life and career, please do get in touch!

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram

Whatever Happened to Anna Karen?

I'm continuing my occasional series of blogs on some of the lesser known stars of Carry On today by looking at the life and career of an instantly recognisable actress. Anna Karen may only have played very small roles in two Carry Ons, but she's had a long career in television and film and holds a very strong Carry On connection to this day - namely her best friend, a certain Miss Barbara Windsor.

Anna first appeared in the Carry On films in October 1968 when, at the age of 32 she played one of the girls at Chayste Place Finishing School in Carry On Camping. Although featured throughout the film, Anna has little if any dialogue however her role is often remembered for the legendary cat fight in the school between her character and Babs, played by none other than Barbara Windsor. One can only imagine the fun Anna and Barbara had on location with the likes of Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Hattie Jacques in toe!

Anna returned to Pinewood Studios to work for Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas two years later when she cropped up in the final scenes of Carry On Loving. This dating agency comedy, very much a follow up and tribute to the earlier classic black and white Carry On Regardless, sees Sid James and Hattie Jacques run a rather hit and miss matrimonial agency. The climatic farcical wedding banquet scene at the end sees the action descend into a cake fight with the best the Pinewood canteen could provide flying everywhere. Anna pops up as a disgruntled new wife, partnered with the legendary farceur Lauri Lupino Lane. Another pretty wordless role, poor Anna suffers for her art with a jelly down the front of her decolletage. 

Of course Anna did go on to bigger and better things. These days she is known for two roles on the small screen in particular. In 1969 she found lasting fame as Olive, the put upon, rather dowdy, bespectacled sister of Stan and wife of Arthur in the LWT sitcom On The Buses. Starring alongside Reg Varney, Stephen Lewis, Doris Hare, Michael Robbins and Bob Grant, this bus garage comedy ran until 1973 and proved to be a huge success in the ratings. It also led to three spin-off films, all featuring the same cast and made at Elstree Studios. The first was On The Buses in 1971, followed by Mutiny On The Buses in 1972 and finally Holiday on the Buses the following year. All very much followed the same story arc and featured similar situations. I must admit that although I recognise their lasting popularity, this series and the films they spawned are probably amongst my least favourite of their genre. 

Anna's other best-remembered television role came over two decades after On The Buses. In 1996 she was reunited with Carry On co-star and long-time friend Barbara Windsor when she joined the cast of EastEnders to play Aunt Sal, sister to Windsor's character Peggy. Although never a regular character, Anna has continued to appear in the BBC soap opera over the years, mainly at big events such as weddings and funerals. I always appreciate such continuity in programmes like EastEnders and the chemistry between Karen and Windsor made for some very believable scenes. Anna last appeared in the show when Sal attended Peggy Mitchell's funeral in 2016 after Barbara decided to bow out of the role. 

Anna would work for Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, the writers of On The Buses, on two further television projects during her career. The first of these was a short-lived period variation on The Rag Trade called Wild, Wild Women. Set in 1902, it featured a very similar set up to the earlier comedy series and starred Barbara Windsor, Pat Coombs and Joan Sanderson. Sadly it only made it to one series as it failed to ignite the interest of viewers. Nearly a decade later when Chesney and Wolfe were asked to bring back their earlier hit The Rag Trade, this time for LWT, they called upon the services of Anna Karen once again. Running between 1977 and 1978, the updated show saw original stars Peter Jones and Miriam Karlin reprise their roles as Harold Fenner and Paddy Fleming with new additions including future EastEnders actress Gillian Taylforth and Carry On England star Diane Langton. Anna played Olive Rudge, her character from On The Buses!

Anna Karen was actually born Ana Caren Krege in South Africa in September 1936. Apparently, one of her first jobs in the profession after arriving in London was as a strip tease artist and dancer in the Panama Club in the capital's West End. By the mid 1960s she had broken into the world of film with appearances in the likes of The Sandwich Man (1966), Ken Loach's Poor Cow (with Carol White) in 1967, the sex comedy What's Up Nurse (1978) and more recently as Marlene in the 1996 film Beautiful Thing. On television, other roles have included appearances in Dixon of Dock Green, And Mother Makes Five, The Dick Emery Show, The Kenneth Williams Show, Super Gran and Roland Rat: The Series! 

Living in Essex for most of her life, Anna was married to the actor and comedian Terry Duggan from 1967 until his death in 2008. As well as continuing with occasional appearances in television and on film, Anna has also taught drama at an arts academy in Hornchurch, Essex. Despite some ill health in recent years, Anna still pops up in documentaries and chat shows, most recently seen in Channel 5's tribute to Dame Barbara Windsor as the star turned 80. 

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