Carrying On with Doctor Who!

 

I'm afraid Doctor Who is one of those phenomenons which completely passes me by. I've never really understood the appeal although what I do get is that it is very much a peculiarly British show. Since it first debuted back in 1963 it has enthralled, scared, entertained and captured the imagination of each and every generation.

As with many classic series of the era, Doctor Who called upon the talents of many wonderful character actors to add spark and charm to its endless out of this world adventures. And some of these faces will be familiar to Carry On fans, so let's take a look back at some of the Carry On actors who moonlighted across at the BBC in Doctor Who serials! 

We must start with two familiar faces who became the Doctor himself. The first, and the very first to play Doctor Who was none other than William Hartnell. Hartnell had another first of course, playing Sergeant Grimshawe in Carry On Sergeant, the beginning of the franchise in 1958. William played the Doctor in the very early black and white days of the series and its the role he's still best remembered for. 

 

Fast forward ten years or so another familiar face to pick up the reigns of the series was Jon Pertwee. Pertwee was the third incarnation of the Doctor, playing him between 1970 and 1974. To Carry On fans Jon is best remembered for his cameo roles in Carry On Cleo, Carry On Cowboy and Carry On Screaming before returning to the series in 1992 as one of the few original faces to join Carry On Columbus. 

Wanda Ventham, who had small parts in Carry On Cleo, Up The Khyber and The Big Job, played the character of Jean Rock in the 1967 adventure "The Faceless Ones". A year before, series regular Peter Butterworth, a popular part of the Carry On team between 1965 and 1978, appeared in eight episodes of Doctor Who as the memorable villain, the Meddling Monk. He appeared alongside William Hartnell, Jean Marsh and Peter Purves, the future Blue Peter presenter!

 

Fellow Carry On regular Bernard Bresslaw played yet another villain in Doctor Who during 1967 when he portrayed the Ice Warrior, Varga. There are some wonderful shots of Bernard getting into costume at the BBC Television Centre. Another veteran of British film, the legendary character actor Victor Maddern popped up in Doctor Who for six episodes in 1968. Victor played Mason in the story "Fury from the Deep". Kenneth Cope, best known for Coronation Street, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and of course Carry On At Your Convenience and Matron, played the role of Packard in four episodes of Doctor Who broadcast in 1981. 

Five years after Kenneth, the brilliant Joan Sims signed up for four episodes, playing the character Katryca in the Colin Baker adventure "The Trial of a Time Lord". According to Joan's autobiography, her appearance left her completely cold as she failed to understand the script or the point of the series! She just said the lines and picked up the cheque - Fair enough! Joan's Carry On Emmannuelle co-star, the lovely Suzanne Danielle also appeared in four Doctor Who episodes broadcast the year after she joined the Carry On team. In "Destiny of the Daleks" she played Agella.

 

Angela Douglas, the star of four 1960s Carry Ons - Cowboy, Screaming, Follow That Camel and Up The Khyber - played the recurring character of Doris Lethbridge-Stewart in the 1980s adventure "Battlefield". Angela's Up The Khyber co-star and love interest, that multi-talented entertainer Roy Castle appeared in the big screen outing Doctor Who and the Daleks in 1965. This film starred the legendary Peter Cushing as the Doctor while Roy played Ian, the boyfriend of Jennie Linden's Barbara. 

Carry On Jack and Spying favourite Bernard Cribbins holds a unique place in the heart of many a Doctor Who fan. Bernard first joined the Doctor for the big screen follow up to Doctor Who in the Daleks, released in 1966. His film, also starring Peter Cushing as the Doctor, was Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 AD. Cribbins played a young special constable, Tom Campbell. This film also featured future Carry On Abroad cast member Ray Brooks playing the character David. Bernard would return to the world of Doctor Who four decades after making this film, this time on television, playing Wilfred Mott opposite the tenth Doctor, David Tennant. 

 

Finally, one more cheeky addition before I go. In 2009, British comedy legend June Whitfield guest starred in a two part Doctor Who Christmas Special, "The End of Time". Playing the rather fruity pensioner Minnie Hooper, who rather memorably cops a feel of the Doctor's bottom...

So there you have it, a run down of some of the most famous, familiar Carry On actors to have appeared in Doctor Who over the years. I'm sure I've missed out plenty of others so do feel free to write in and let me know!

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Five of the Best: Dashing Carry On Leading Men

 

Carry On films are known for their female characters. The classic, sometimes stereotypical women such as the formidable Matron and the bubbly blonde. However there were also some very strong male characters in the films. The likes of Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Connor were almost constants throughout the entire run of the films.

However were there many (or any) traditional male romantic heroes in these films as we've come to recognise them today? I would argue that there were and in this blog I'm going to pick out five of the very best.

Terence Longdon in Carry On Nurse (1959)

Nurse was only the second film in the franchise yet remains a classic amongst fans. At the centre of the film is the romance between the characters played by Shirley Eaton (Nurse Denton) and journalist patient Ted York (Terence Longdon). Terence is often the forgotten man of Carry On, however he was definitely the romantic lead of these early films. While there weren't many traditional Carry On laughs in this storyline, Terence added a backbone of (almost) serious dramatics to Nurse an continued a theme of a serious social commentary to many of writer Norman Hudis' early Carry On scripts. 

 

Leslie Phillips in Carry On Teacher (1959)

The wolfish Leslie Phillips took over where Terence left off. Leslie's Carry On characters were much more comedic than Terence's but he was most certainly leading man material, romancing the likes of Joan Sims, June Whitfield and Shirley Eaton. He was perhaps at his best for me in Carry On Teacher, sharing wonderful chemistry with Joan Sims' Miss Allcock and both infuriating and melting her heart in equal measure. Leslie has been forever linked with his slightly caddish Carry On persona which while being unfair just shows what a powerful characterisation that was.

 

Jim Dale in Carry On Doctor (1967)

Jim was without a doubt the most successful male juvenile lead in the Carry On series. His unique brand of dashing good looks, comedic physicality and excellent timing made him a star and so successful that he soon took his talents to the West End stage and beyond. He shined in each of his Carry On roles however for me, his role as Dr James Kilmore in Carry On Doctor is the best. He excels as the dashing young doctor who wins the heart of Anita Harris' Nurse Clark while falling foul of the hospital establishment. He is a favourite as far as the patients are concerned and their campaign to reinstate him in the hospital gives this film it's real heart.

 

Roy Castle in Carry On Up The Khyber (1968)

A brilliant entertainer, Roy Castle was also a popular choice for films and television in the 1960s and 70s. He took on the difficult challenge of coming into the Carry Ons to take a role very obviously written with the absent Jim Dale in mind. Roy takes the part of Captain Keene and really makes it his own. There are dashing romantics, a great chemistry with co-star and on screen love interest Angela Douglas and great comedy in his scenes with the likes of Terry Scott, Charles Hawtrey and Sid James. He also looks not too bad in his kilt. To replace someone as popular as Jim and carry it off is no mean feat. 

 

Kenneth Cope in Carry On Matron (1971)

The Carry Ons struggled to find a suitable replacement for Jim Dale following his departure in 1969. Various actors came along and had a crack at it but there wasn't one male star who played the romantic lead parts consistently throughout the 1970s. For me, Kenneth Cope comes closest to achieving this. His debut as union rep Vic Spanner in Convenience was hardly leading man potential however his follow up as Cyril Carter in Matron was much more like it. Kenneth spent most of this film in drag as a trainee nurse and despite this he still carries off the dashing romantics and is very believable with Barbara Windsor. Cope was a natural in the Carry Ons and it's just a shame he didn't continue in the series after this film.

So those are my top five. Do you agree and if not, what are yours?


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

Was Jim right not to Carry On?

I've been thinking a lot about Jim Dale lately. No, not like that. Well maybe a little bit. He's back in London soon with his one man show which I'm thrilled to have tickets to go and see next month. Having heard from him again through the Carry On Forever documentary it has made me look again at his contribution to the films.

As the romantic lead Jim is just perfect in all the Carry Ons he appeared in. His comedic bumbling and athletic stunts really added an extra dimension to the films in which he starred. My favourites are Cowboy, Doctor and Again Doctor. There was nobody else in the team who could play Jim's parts. It was such a shame when he decided to leave the series after Again Doctor in 1969. 

This was obviously the right thing for him as he went on to have decades of success in other films, but mainly on the West End stage and latterly, years of hits on Broadway. JIm is quoted as saying he moved on because the role he was offered in Up The Jungle (the one eventually played by Terry Scott) was not right for him. Certainly the part of Jungle Boy does not benefit from a great deal of dialogue, but surely the physical aspect is something Jim would have taken to a different level. From a selfish point of view, his decision also robbed us of the image of him in a loin cloth for 90 minutes! Almost unforgivable! 

Undoubtedly the Carry Ons changed after Jim's departure. The 1970s saw them become much saucier with boundaries constantly being pushed further and further. Would this have suited the characters Jim Dale played? I'm not sure. Had he stayed he would have been playing the roles subsequently taken on by the likes of Kenneth Cope, Richard O'Callaghan and Patrick Mower. Can you see Jim starring in the likes of Carry On Loving, Matron and England? Probably not. He did of course return in 1992 for Columbus, but we won't go there...

Another aspect of this is the Carry On producers' failure to replace Jim after his departure. Various actors have a crack at it to varying degrees of success. Roy Castle is great as Captain Keene in Up The Khyber. Julian Holloway was on perfect cheeky chappy form as Jim Tanner in Camping but sadly some of his scenes were cut. O'Callaghan and Cope both excelled in early 1970s offerings but the problem remains, none of these actors stuck with the franchise long term so there was little continuity. For a production team so adept at casting decisions, surely they could have found another young male romantic lead?

Who else was there at the time? Robin Askwith appeared in Carry On Girls before embarking on a career with the Confessions series but he lacked Jim's innocence. Someone like Richard Beckinsale would have been perfect casting, but was he already too big a name  to want to appear in the Carry Ons? Likewise someone like Barry Evans or George Layton could have joined the team. Plenty of options I guess but for whatever reason Jim Dale's shoes were never properly filled. Maybe that's simply because it was an impossible task?

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My Top Ten Carry On Films: Number 3!

I'm going to attempt to figure out what my absolute favourite Carry On films of all time are and I will be publishing the results on this blog. This is going to be a hard task for me as I love so many of these films that my favourites change on a regular basis. There will be a few I can immediately discount, none of which will be much of a surprise I'm sure. Others will be more difficult to choose between.

What I intend to do is come up with my top ten Carry Ons and reveal them blog by blog until I get to my all time number one. I'll make it clear that this is just down to my own personal choice and mainly due to personal feelings or memories attached to particular films. It should be an interesting project and I hope that as I go through them you will all feel free to comment and agree/disagree as you see fit!  

It's getting very serious now as we creep up on the top spot. As far as I'm concerned the next two in my countdown are pretty much interchangeable. Both are classics, not only of the Carry On series but of British cinema. At number three is Carry On Up The Khyber!

Up The Khyber is about as British as you can get. It's a send up of all the stiff upper lip British empire films and is wonderfully funny. It is the Carry On team at their peak, Gerald Thomas at his peak and Talbot Rothwell at his funniest. The perfect comedy team gels together and it is laugh out loud funny from beginning to end.

The film follows the crumbling last days of empire. The British are blissfully unaware that the natives are revolting. The Devils in Skirts or The Third Foot and Mouth as we know them, risk losing power in India after Bungdit Din and his Burpas (yes, really) find proof that the English wear underpants under their kilts. The international incident comes to pass (as it were) thanks to hapless Private Widdle (Charles Hawtrey). 

At the heart of Khyber is a truly magnificent comic performance from stalwart Kenneth Williams as Randi Lal, The Khasi of Kalabar. It's Kenneth on his best nostril-flaring, rip-roaring form and he forms a deliciously evil double act with Bernard Bresslaw. Angela Douglas, in her last appearance in the series, plays The Khasi's daughter Princess Jelhi who flouts her father, falls in love with British officer Captain Keene and switches allegiance.

The British lot are headed up by the wonderful Sid James who was just born to play Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond. He's the all powerful dignitary but also still the cockney wide boy from Hancock's Half Hour. It's a tremendous performance which is matched every step of the way by Joan Sims as Lady Ruff-Diamond. It is one of Joan's best performances, swooping from posh to common and back again. "Oh he didn't half crack that one, did he not?!" Joan's scenes with Kenneth Williams have gone into legend. Two comedy icons firing on all cylinders. 

Roy Castle steps into Jim Dale's vacant shoes to play the romantic lead, Captain Keene. Castle does well as the stiff upper lipped Keene and forms a great double act with Terry Scott as Seargant Major MacNutt. Julian Holloway is also in fine form as Sid's assistant, Shorthouse.

Special mention must go to Peter Butterworth, who steals every scene he appears in, as the dubious missionary Brother Belcher. He is all high morals and righteousness in public but prone to the pleasures of the flesh behind closed doors. He's also fond of making a few bob on the side! Peter is perfect in this role and the scenes of Butterworth, Castle, Scott and Hawtrey invading enemy territory are great fun!

The highlight of Khyber has to be the famous dining room sequence. While Williams and Bresslaw attempt to demolish the British residency, Sid and Joan host a dignified dinner party complete with suckling pig and an orchestra. It is British dignity and stubborn stupidity all rolled into one and it is fantastic. Peter Butterworth mugs like crazy and works his socks off as the only dinner guest openly aware of the destruction around him. Joan Sims has the line of the scene in an inspired addition to the script "I seem to have got a little plastered!" as huge chunks of ceiling fall around her! Brilliant stuff.

One other line of note goes to Bernard Bresslaw, when trying to get rid of Cardew Robinson's Fakir. "Fakir, Off!" Bresslaw leaves enough of a pause between the two words to just get away with that one!

The film ends in typically Carry On style, with Sid, Joan and the Brits out on top. In a classic ending, they survey the destruction and Sid dismisses it with the line "Don't worry, we'll clear it up in the morning". The last word goes to Peter Butterworth as the "I'm backing Britain" slogan appears on a fluttering Union Jack. 

Tremendous comedy, superlative performances and a Carry On film worthy of its place as a bona fide classic of British film. 

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