By 1974, the Carry On films had established themselves as the most successful British comedy series, but this success was not to last. The popularity would wane faced with changes in popular taste and the overall decline of British cinema. This era marked the end of the tale.

The Carry On series were all directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. For over a decade highly talented comedy writer Talbot Rothwell OBE had written them, yet his involvement was due to come to an unforeseen, sudden end and no other writer was able to reach his standards. Also, by the mid 1970s the established cast were either ageing or wanting to move onto more prestigious – and better paid – roles and the new actors who replaced them were no real substitutes.

There remained strong affection for the Carry On team, with stage show Carry On London! performed at the Birmingham Hippodrome and London's Victoria Palace. This starred Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas, Bernard Bresslaw, Kenneth Connor and Peter Butterworth and ran until 1975. It was during this time that a relationship developed between Babs and Sid. Yet their previous film, 1973's Carry On Girls, flopped and the annual Carry On Christmas television show was subsequently cancelled. By 1974 only one Carry On was made a year, rather than the two a year that had been standard previously.

The Films

The main Carry On cast and actors credited on four or more films are listed in Bold. As the Carry On films are considered to be quite sexist, whether or not the films pass the Bechdel Test is also mentioned. This can be summarised as whether the film involves two or more female characters who have a conversation together that does not include or mention any male characters.

26. Carry On Dick (1974)

Another fun historical adventure that combines elements of the notorious legendary Dick Turpin, naturally rebranded 'Big Dick' for Carry On purposes, and Russell Thorndike's Dr Syn novels (1915-1944) which had inspired Disney film, Dr Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963)¹. In this adaptation, Big Dick (so named after the size of the weapon he carries) disguises himself as a vicar. The film also contains many similarities to earlier film Carry On Don't Lose Your Head.

When the film was being made, stage show Carry On London! was being performed twice daily in London and the film schedule was made around their stage commitments. There were 29 days studio shooting and 10 days' location filming, including the Jolly Woodman pub in Littleworth Common standing in for the Old Cock.

This was again a film of lasts; though it was not known at the time, it was the last film to feature Hattie Jacques and Sid James. Similarly, Barbara Windsor informed Peter Rogers that this would be the last time she would play a flirty busty girl; having done so for a decade, at 37 she now wanted to play a different role. Despite this, she did still play the busty blonde in episodes of 1975's Carry On Laughing television series.

The Writing on the Wall

Carry On Dick was the last film written by Talbot Rothwell; he had all-but completed the script at draft stage but was unable to finish the final version. Rothwell throughout his writing career was extremely prolific. Despite frequent severe ill health since his time as a Prisoner of War, for over a decade he had written three or more film scripts a year as well as sitcom Up Pompeii!.

Though different reports suggest he had a stroke or nervous exhaustion following overwork, either way he was suddenly unable to use a typewriter or write by hand anymore. He was only able to finish the draft for Carry On Dick by dictating to his daughter, Jane. Talbot Rothwell had previously proposed a script inspired by the Great War sequence he had written for the final Carry On Christmas television special, however he had not advanced far before being forced to abandon writing. Without Talbot's ability to set the tone, the series entered a decline.

The original Carry On screenwriter Norman Hudis had been contacted in 1970 to see if he would be interested in writing for the series again, yet despite his enthusiasm he was unable to because of an impasse with the Writers' Guild of America. This was mainly because Peter Rogers refused to pay the additional 11% Guild's Pension and Health Insurance fee.

In 1975 ATV, impressed with the popularity of the Carry On films on television, asked if they could have a Carry On television series. 13 half-hour episodes of Carry On Laughing were made, written by various different writers. Only the first four starred Sid James as he was contracted to appear in the stage show The Mating Season in Australia.

27. Carry On Behind (1975)

Although the film's plot is a virtual retread of Carry On Camping and was also filmed at Pinewood Studios' orchard, the script began as a screenplay entitled Love On Wheels written by Dave Freeman in 1973 that was not originally intended to be a Carry On film. However after Talbot Rothwell was forced to retire from writing in December 1974 Dave Freeman was hired to rewrite the script to make it part of the Carry On series, initially titled Carry On Caravanning. The title Carry On Behind was finally chosen because the film is about caravans, which are carried behind cars. No-one who has ever towed a caravan has ever described it as 'having a caravan carrying on behind'.

The script was written for Sid James to play Fred, however as he was doing a play in Australia he was replaced by Windsor Davies, famous for television sitcom It Ain't Half Hot, Mum. International film star Elke Sommer was paid £30,000 to appear in this film, more than the total paid to Barbara Windsor² for all her 10 Carry On appearances. Producer Peter Rogers had met Elke when she appeared in his wife Betty Box's Percy sex comedies³.

This was to prove Bernard Bresslaw's final Carry On film.

28. Carry On England (1976)

By the end of 1975 it was apparent that the television series Carry On Laughing had not been as successful as had been hoped, and had not matched the success of the earlier Christmas specials. Yet one particularly ambitious script set during the Second World War titled 'The Busting of Balsy' showed promise but would be too expensive for television. Colin Rogers, Head of Scripts for ATV, contacted producer Peter Rogers (no relation) who decided that the script should instead become a film, Carry On England. Peter Rogers also hoped to film another standalone comedy set during the war to be titled We Haf Ways of Making You Larf, based on an unused Talbot Rothwell script titled Carry On Escaping that was set in a prisoner of war camp.

The intended cast was quite different from those finally cast. It had been hoped that Ian Lavender would return to star as Able, Kenneth Williams was offered the role of the Brigadier, Alice Easy had been written with Barbara Windsor in mind and Penelope Keith was offered the role of Ffouke-Sharpe, although she was busy enjoying The Good Life. None of those actors appear, yet Kenneth Connor's son Jeremy Connor plays Gunner Hiscocks; he had previously played the young boy in Carry On Nurse. Actors who appeared in the Carry On Laughing television series also were given minor roles, with Linda Hooks as a nurse, Vivienne Johnson as Freda and John Carlin and as Michael Nightingale as officers. As Sid James still had stage commitments Windsor Davies was again set to star, and able to use the Sergeant persona he had honed in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum. This is the only Carry On appearance by his It Ain't Half Hot, Mum co-star, Isle of Wight resident Melvyn Hayes.

Rank suddenly announced in early 1976 that they would not fund the Prisoner of War camp comedy and only fund half of Carry On England. By this time Rank's films were losing money. Although Bugsy Malone (1976) had been successful, when faced with competition from big blockbusters like Star Wars, most of their recent films had flopped and they had lost over £1.6 million. Rank were becoming increasingly uninterested in filmmaking, wishing to concentrate on their more lucrative and predictable photocopying and bingo business instead. Although Pink Floyd initially agreed to fund the film, Peter Rogers provided the other half of the required funds in order to retain control, yet finance was tight. Composer Eric Rogers also left the series when he was told that due to cost-cutting he would not be allowed 40 musicians to score with, but only 20.

The film's main weakness was that it didn't have many other established Carry On stars, only Joan Sims, Jack Douglas, Peter Butterworth and Kenneth Connor. The search for a new Jim Dale continued with Patrick Mower in the handsome hero role, Diane Langton was on trial as a replacement for Barbara Windsor and unable to get Sally Geeson - star of Carry On Abroad and Carry On Girls - they cast her older sister Judy Geeson.

A genuine 3.7-inch Second World War anti-aircraft gun was loaned from the Imperial War Museum's collection, with producer Peter Rogers boasting it was a bigger gun than anything the Bond films had ever had. This was Britain's standard anti-aircraft weapon throughout the war. Despite this historical accuracy, it is painfully apparent throughout the film that 30 personnel having only one gun between them seems unrealistic. There were mixed anti-aircraft battery regiments in Britain during the Second World War, however these were formed in 1942 not 1940. However, we do get to see some incompetent bayonet practice, bringing back memories of Carry On Sergeant and Carry On Follow That Camel, with the interest in soldiers' skirts reminiscent of Carry On Up the Khyber.

As the amount of frontal nudity had increased, it also was the first Carry On released with an AA certificate, meaning only over 14s could see it. This dramatically reduced the audience size and it originally flopped at the cinema. So in early 1977 an edited version was also released without the two scenes containing bare breasts and the mention of the aircraft company Fokker also excised. This was more successful than the uncensored version. Today the unedited version is rated PG, for though it contains nudity, there is no sexualised nudity.

Tragically when the film was nearing completion, Sid James collapsed and died onstage during a performance of The Mating Season at the Sunderland Empire Theatre. When released the media criticised the film for having already replaced Sid James. Overall, it was clear that the public disapproved of the release of a Carry On film without Sid James immediately after his death.

29. That's Carry On (1977)

Following the criticism of Carry On England, the series continued with a clip show containing scenes from every Carry On film except Carry On England. Linking material with Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor inside Pinewood Studio barely keeps the film together. Some considered it a last-minute tribute to Sid James following the previous film's criticism, however it was inspired by the phenomenal success of the MGM compilation film That's Entertainment! (1974).

The film was a co-production between J Arthur Rank and EMI, who had bought Anglo Amalgamated, however Rank were uninterested in the film and did not give it a general release. Despite this, when it was broadcast on ITV in 1981 it attracted a remarkable 11 million viewers. The new framing footage took two days to film, for which Kenneth Williams was paid £2,000. Unsurprisingly, this was the cheapest Carry On to make.

30. Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)

When Peter Rogers approached Rank with two proposals for the next Carry On film, they announced they would not commit any more money to filmmaking, only on their more lucrative photocopying and bingo business instead. The proposals were for a script by Jonathan Lynn and George Layton called Carry On Again Nurse, which like Carry On England would have involved nudity, and Carry On Emmannuelle, a parody of French soft porn film Emmanuelle (1974).

Emmanuelle had reportedly been seen by over 500 million people worldwide. By the late 1970s there were inevitable authorised sequels as well as numerous copycats including Black Emmanuelle (1976) and Yellow Emmanuelle (1977), which inspired writer Lance Peters to write a treatment called Green Emmanuelle about an alien woman on Earth. Peter Rogers saw this and was impressed but decided to change it so that it was about a French woman rather than an alien. This became Carry On Emmannuelle, spelt with an extra 'N' to avoid lawsuits and with the sex scenes heavily toned down.

Peter Rogers decided to wait until 1979 to make Carry On Again Nurse so it would tie in with the 20th anniversary of Carry On Nurse. He then completely re-wrote Lance Peters original script for Carry On Emmannuelle to make it more suitable for the Carry On spirit. Distributor Hemdale were interested in distributing the film, but not in funding it. Hemdale had just released The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978) featuring Kenneth Williams, and their involvement was dependent on Kenneth Williams agreeing. Though Williams really felt the script was the worst he had ever seen, he felt he had to agree out of loyalty. He was also, astonishingly, given a pay rise, being paid £6,000 instead of his previous fee of £5,000. With Williams on board, Cleves Investments Ltd agreed to provide the £320,000 required. Barbara Windsor was asked if she wanted to participate in a recurring role as the woman described by Leyland, Lyons and Richmond but after seeing the script, which would have involved her spending most of her time in her underwear, naturally refused. Her role was split between three different actresses. Eric Rogers composed the score one last time.

The British sex comedy genre existed from 1967-1979 and was a result of Britain's censorship laws being the toughest in Europe. With actual pornography illegal, severe restraints covered what were classed 'sex documentaries'. These could only be shown on licensed premises if they were officially regarded as informative and not considered to be entertaining. However extremely saucy humour combining the music hall and saucy seaside postcard traditions that exploited the intended audience's embarrassment about sex was allowed. Yet 1978 was the year that the market for sex comedies, such as Confessions from a Holiday Camp, had ended. It also coincided with the peak of the anti-pornography feminist movement where women were encouraged to boycott films containing female nudity, but before the rise of the sex-positive feminist movement, which argued that it was fine for a woman to enjoy consensual sex if she so chose. This effectively meant it was the worst possible year in which to make a sex comedy, even one that is neither sexy nor funny.

Gerald Thomas when questioned by the press insisted that the film contained vulgar and titillating sex scenes, not crude pornographic sex scenes, but this was hardly reassuring. Released in November 1978, the film was still out in January 1979 when Peter Butterworth had a sudden heart attack and died immediately after playing Widow Twanky at a performance of Aladdin.

The 1980s

Following Carry On Emmannuelle Peter Rogers began preparations to make the nudity-featuring Carry On Again Nurse in 1979. Hattie Jacques once again would have played Matron, co- starring Kenneth Williams and there were proposals to reconcile and work again with Charles Hawtrey. However as Carry On Emmannuelle had flopped, Cleves Investments Ltd were uninterested in providing the finance. Hemdale would only distribute and were not prepared to provide the money to make the film, and so the film was put in hiatus. In 1980 just as the required funds appeared to be available, Hattie Jacques had a sudden heart attack and died. As the proposed film would have starred her as Matron, it was abandoned.

Peter Rogers continued trying to make more Carry On films and in 1981 commissioned Vince Powell to write a parody of US soap Dallas (1978-1991). This would have featured Kenneth Williams as RU Screwing, the head of the Screwing family, inspired by Dallas' JR Ewing. This went by the working titles Carry On Texas and Carry On Dallas and was abandoned when threatened by Dallas' lawyers, even when he proposed changing the family name from 'Screwing' to 'Ramming'.

Following the huge television reception to That's Carry On! in 1981, Philip Jones, head of Thames Television, requested they make a series of Carry On compilation episodes. This was complicated by the fact that ITV only had the broadcast rights to half the series and so clips from only the films they had the rights to broadcast were used. The series, entitled Carry On Laughing but not to be confused with the earlier show with that name, ran 1981-1982, and was a huge success, with the first episode of this series broadcast on New Year's Eve and watched by 16 million. The BBC soon asked Peter Rogers to make a compilation series based on the Carry On films they had broadcast rights to, which this time was called What a Carry On. With hindsight, that neither series contained any deleted scenes seems a lost opportunity.

Having seen that there was an audience of millions still interested in the Carry On brand, even short clips, Rogers tried again to get finance for another film. Rank, again, were still uninterested. Tragically in the mid-1980s Rank decided to completely clear out their film storage facilities and destroyed reels of material from many of the films they had made. This included all the outtakes and deleted scenes from the Carry On films. No copies survive.

In the mid-1980s another attempt was made to get the Carry On series off the ground. An Australian businessman promised to finance a film set in Australia, which led to Powell writing a script named Carry On Down Under. Again it failed to get anywhere with the finances falling through before the script was finished. The incomplete script has been published in 50 Years of Carry On (2008).

The Carry On team planned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series with a special anniversary film that would star Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Barbara Windsor. An entirely new script for Carry On Again Nurse was written by Norman Hudis, the writer of the early Carry On films, in 1988. Rogers had even managed to get the Writers Guild of America to agree to waive their fee on the grounds that it would be a British film based on a script written in Britain. The story was about a local hospital threatened with closure, and patients and staff trying to save it. Tragically in early 1988 both Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey died suddenly and so the film was abandoned. The script was published in 2000 in book The Lost Carry Ons.

31. Carry On Columbus (1992)

Carry On Columbus was made to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to America and was more successful in the UK than the official Columbus films Christopher Columbus: The Discovery and 1492: Conquest of Paradise, although all three flopped. Dave Freeman was given ten days in which to write the script and incorporates some material from Carry On Again Christmas. The story has a plethora of characters played by a stellar cast, most of whom sadly have little to do while the film jerks from scene to scene instead of each scene following smoothly from the one before.

Frankie Howerd had originally been cast as the king of Spain but died before filming commenced, with Bernard Bresslaw turning down the role. Both Joan Sims and Barbara Windsor had been asked but declined to play Queen Isabella. This was the last film directed by Gerald Thomas, who had directed all 31 Carry On films. The American shore was filmed at Frensham Ponds, which had previously doubled for Spain in Carry On Jack (1963). During the making of the film, Sarah Crowe met and married Jim Dale's son Tony Dale.

Overall a huge step up after That's Carry On! and Emmannuelle and with plenty of enjoyable moments, yet these do not gel together to make a coherent whole leaving the film less than the sum of its parts. There are also too many actors who have little to do, as it attempts to say farewell to as many of the old generation of Carry On actors as possible and also introduce a large number of a potential new generation, who were not given a chance to return.

No More Carrying On?

In 1993 Bernard Bresslaw died of a heart attack in his dressing room just before he was due on stage, Kenneth Connor died of cancer and Carry On director Gerald Thomas died of a heart attack at his home.

This wasn't the end of the story, as in 2003 Peter Rogers announced he would be making a film titled Carry On London about a limousine company that takes celebrities to an awards show. This would be the first in a new series of films. Lots of different comedy and soap actors were supposedly involved, with the project constantly being on hold until the death of Peter Rogers in April 2009. Since then there has still been media interest in the Carry On name, with two more Carry On films announced to great fanfare in 2016, with Carry On Doctors and Carry On Campus supposedly being made back-to-back, although again this announcement led nowhere.

One thing that is certain is that the Carry On films retain great affection in the UK. In an era in which films are frequently remakes and reboots, including loved British comedies such as Dad's Army and St Trinian's, it seems almost inevitable that a new Carry On will be made one day. The question is, how successfully can the magic of the original be recaptured without the original cast?