The Complete A–Z of Everything Carry On

Doctor Binn (Kenneth Connor) is smitten with Flo (Dilys Laye, left)

Ready for another cruise, this time an April run around the sunny Mediterranean, Captain Crowther, who’s at the helm of the S.S. Happy Wanderer, is horrified to see new faces among his crew. Changes in personnel make him nervous because he believes they could spell disaster, thereby killing off any hope he has of taking over the captaincy of the company’s new trans-Atlantic liner.

Among the passengers embarking on the journey is an eccentric old lady, a drunk who spends his entire time propping up the bar and two girls, Flo and Glad. Flo hopes that during the cruise, with her friend’s help, she’ll find herself a husband. Dr Binn, the ship’s doctor, is attracted to her but it’s clear that feelings aren’t mutual, particularly as she’s already got her eye on Mr Jenkins, the PT instructor.

Meanwhile, Leonard Marjoribanks, the new first officer, happens to pop into the captain’s cabin when he’s mixing up various drinks. Unbeknown to Marjoribanks, Captain Crowther is trying to find the right combination for an Aberdeen Angus, his favourite tipple. The only person who knew how to mix the drink was Angus, the head barman, who resigned from his job without passing details on to his replacement. Marjoribanks believes the captain is drunk and convenes a meeting with the rest of the crew to inform them that he’s taking over the ship; everyone is, therefore, understandably shocked when a completely sober Captain Crowther strides into the room.

Flo Castle’s search for a husband, meanwhile, continues. Suddenly realising she needs a mature man, she only has eyes for the captain, but attempts to woo him fail. To help her friend, Glad Trimble secures the help of the first officer to bring Dr Binn and Flo together, and it’s not long before the ship’s doctor overcomes his timidity and proposes to Miss Castle.

As the cruise comes to an end, a party is thrown to celebrate ten years since the captain took charge of the Happy Wanderer; the captain is soon the recipient of good news when a cable arrives informing him he’s got the new job, but he declines the offer in order to stay with his beloved Happy Wanderer.

CROWTHER, CAPTAIN WELLINGTON

Played by Sid James

Captain Crowther has been at the helm of the Happy Wanderer for ten years. He served in the navy during the war, sailing Arctic waters, but has spent the last few decades ferrying passengers around the Mediterranean. Has hopes of being offered the captaincy of the company’s spanking new trans-Atlantic liner but realises it’s not a foregone conclusion, especially with several board members disliking him. Such an inferiority complex explains why he becomes incredibly nervous and worried when new faces join the crew of the Happy Wanderer, splitting up the loyal, reliable team he’s established over the years.

Despite problems endured during the April cruise to the Med in Cruising, the trip turns out successful and Crowther is offered his dream job, only to turn it down in order to stay with the Happy Wanderer.

Away from the wheelhouse, he’s green-fingered; his garden is the envy of everyone associated with the various horticultural societies to which he belongs.

CRUISING, CARRY ON

see feature box here.

CRUMP, HAROLD

Played by Bernard Cribbins

Agent 04733, whose codename is Blue Bottle, is one of the callow agents reporting to Simkins in Spying. A Southern Counties champion in ludo for four years, he’s recruited to the team whose job is to retrieve a stolen formula. While doing so, he falls in love with fellow agent, Daphne Honeybutt.

CRUMP, PROFESSOR ROLAND

Played by Kenneth Williams

The distinguished archaeologist, who lectures at the University of Kidburn, heads to Templeton where a Roman encampment has been unearthed next to a caravan site. He’s joined on his dig by a bunch of enthusiastic students and an expert in Roman remains, Professor Vooshka, who, surprisingly, takes quite a fancy to the professor, although his inexperience with the opposite sex is plain to see.

CUMMINGS, BILL

Role: Thug in Spying

As a stuntman, Bill Cummings worked on such films as Willow and ten James Bond movies, ranging from Dr No and From Russia with Love to The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only. On television he carried out stunts on Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and The Prisoner.

Cummings appeared in small parts in The Champions and The Avengers on television, as well as Heavenly Bodies! and The Pink Panther Strikes Again on the big screen.

CURLY

Played by Peter Gilmore

One of the Rumpo Kid’s men who run Stodge City to their own game plan. Seen in Cowboy.

CURRY, IAN

Roles: Eric in Constable and Leonard Beamish in Regardless

Born in Rhodesia in 1930, Ian Curry was seen only occasionally on screen during the early 1960s. His television credits include Richard the Lionheart, The Avengers and Zero One, while he appeared in a few films, such as Underground and The Dock Brief.

CURTIS, ALAN

Roles: Conte di Pisa in Henry and Police Chief in Abroad

Born in Coulsdon, Surrey, in 1930, Alan Curtis left school and immediately entered the business at the Croydon Grand, appearing as a village boy in Great Day. Apart from a brief spell working for Anglo-American Oil, he’s remained in the industry ever since. In 1947, he secured his first break with a repertory company in Gloucester, helping construct the sets, followed by a six-month spell with a small film company in Reigate, making short, animated religious films.

In 1948 he mixed acting with work behind the scenes, including a stint at Colwyn Bay, and by the mid-1950s was appearing on the screen. His film credits include Die Screaming, Marianne, Four Dimensions of Greta, The Flesh and Blood Show, Tiffany Jones and The Vision, while on television he’s been seen in, among others, The Saint, Paul Temple, Whoops Baghdad!, Last of the Summer Wine, The Corridor People, Crossroads and Duty Free. His busy stage career, meanwhile, has seen him make just under a thousand appearances at the London Palladium.

In 1995 he suffered a stroke which restricted work opportunities for a while but has since returned to acting and, in 2003, was seen in the popular drama, Footballers’ Wives.

CUSTOMS OFFICER

Played by David Hart

Searches Emmannuelle Prevert’s baggage in Emmannuelle when she first arrives in the UK, paying particular attention to her underwear. (Note: the scene was cut from the film.)

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

When Emmannuelle first arrives in the UK she gets more than she bargained for at the Customs desk, and in an earlier draft of the script, a female customs officer was involved, too.

INT. CUSTOMS BAGGAGE AREA, AIRPORT – DAY

Emmannuelle is standing at a Customs bench watching a large, brutish, sarcastic Customs officer go through the contents of her two big suitcases. He pulls out some of her frilly underthings and feels them suggestively, grinning at her, daring her to complain.

EMMANNUELLE: You won’t find anything in there.

CUSTOMS OFFICER: Pity. (Laughs like a hyena at his own cleverness.)

(The CUSTOMS OFFICER, still rifling through the suitcase, focuses his gaze on the front of EMMANNUELLE’s wrap-around dress.)

EMMANNUELLE: (With a challenge.) Nor in there.

(Theodore, wheeling his luggage by on a trolley, unhampered by a customs inspection, stops behind Emmannuelle. He clears his throat to attract her attention. Emmannuelle turns, gives Theodore just a cursory glance, then turns back to the Customs officer.)

(Theodore looks hurt, hesitates, then wheels his trolley towards the exit.)

CUSTOMS OFFICER: Ever been caught smugglin’ have you, darlin’?

EMMANNUELLE: I have nothing to declare and nothing to hide!

CUSTOMS OFFICER: (Still gaping at her.) That so?

(The Customs officer turns and gives a silent signal to a woman Customs official, who starts to walk towards them.)

INT. CUSTOMS INSPECTION ROOM, AIRPORT – DAY

(The uniformed woman Customs official is alone with Emmannuelle. The room is very small and as bare as a betting shop.)

CUSTOMS OFFICER: I have to ask you to remove all your clothing, if you don’t mind.

EMMANNUELLE: What for?

CUSTOMS OFFICER: We have reason to suspect you may be secreting something on your person.

EMMANNUELLE: What – something?

CUSTOMS OFFICER: That’s what we’re going to find out!

EMMANNUELLE: (Indignantly.) I am not a smooggler!

CUSTOMS OFFICER: Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?

(Emmannuelle’s mood switches from indignation to cunning. She stares at the Custom official’s body.)

EMMANNUELLE: I will, if you will.

CUSTOMS OFFICER: What?

EMMANNUELLE: I said – I will, if you will.

CUSTOMS OFFICER: (Trying to take her eyes off EMMANNUELLE’s body.) That’s not in the regulations.

EMMANNUELLE: Who cares about regulations?

INT. OUTSIDE CUSTOMS INSPECTION ROOM, AIRPORT – DAY

(The large brutish Customs officer is covertly peeping through the knothole in the wall. His expression is incredulous.)

INT. CUSTOMS INSPECTION ROOM, AIRPORT – DAY

(From Customs officer’s P.O.V. through knothole: Emmannuelle is undressed for inspection. So is the woman Customs official.)

CUTTING, SIR BERNARD

Played by Kenneth Williams

A top surgeon at Finisham Maternity Hospital in Matron, Sir Bernard spends most of his time worrying about his own ailments. A hypochondriac who one minute thinks he’s got Asian flu, the next believes he’s changing sex. Respected by many of his peers as well as those reporting to him, including Matron, whose feelings for Cutting go far beyond the line of duty. She’s smitten with Cutting but the feeling isn’t reciprocated, that is until Dr Goode convinces him that his worries regarding changing sex are due to an urgent desire to prove his masculinity. From that moment, Cutting tries to develop a relationship with Matron, ending in the sound of wedding bells.

CYNICAL LADY

Played by Joan Benham

Seen in Emmannuelle sitting at Emile Prevert’s dining-table, the Cynical Lady is a guest of the French Ambassador.

CYRIL

The cameraman who arrives at the Palace Hotel with Cecil Gaybody and the rest of the team working on the television programme, Women’s Things. Seen but not heard in Girls.

DALE, JIM

Roles: Expectant Father in Cabby, Carrier in Jack, Carstairs in Spying, Horsa in Cleo, Marshall P. Knutt in Cowboy, Albert Potter in Screaming!, Lord Darcy de Pue in Don’t Lose Your Head, Bertram Oliphant ‘Bo’ West in Follow That Camel, Dr Jim Kilmore in Doctor, Dr James Nookey in Again Doctor and Columbus in Columbus

Jim Dale, who was born in Rothwell, Northants, in 1935, imbued his characterisations with a vulnerability and naïvety, with no finer example than his beautifully portrayed Marshall P. Knutt in Cowboy. But he was equally adept at adopting a cheeky grin and have-a-laugh manner, which he used to great effect when crafting a medical persona for Doctor and Again Doctor.

A man of many talents, from singer and songwriter to comic and actor, Dale began to show an inclination towards a future life on the stage when, aged nine, he began studying dance and started performing in local amateur shows.

After leaving school he worked in a shoe factory but began developing a comedy act which he later toured around Variety music halls before having to interrupt his career to complete National Service in the RAF.

Moving into his twenties, he diversified and enjoyed success as a pop singer; four of his singles charted with his biggest hit,‘Be My Girl’, climbing to number two in October 1957. As well as appearing on the popular music show, Six·Five Special, he later hosted the show, by which time his face was instantly recognisable to the viewing public. His popularity also led to a spell spinning discs on a BBC radio show for a year.

His stage career started in earnest when he was offered the chance to play Autolycus in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, followed by the part of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By the beginning of the 1970s, when he’d made ten of his eleven Carry On appearances, he joined the National Theatre and proceeded to clock up numerous West End credits, including such productions as The Merchant of Venice, The Good Natured Man, The Burglar and The Card. It was his stage success that led to him settling in America. His impressive performances playing the lead in an adaptation of Molière’s Scapino in San Francisco and Broadway earned him several awards and plenty of job offers.

His screen career has mainly been in films, with credits including Raising the Wind, The Iron Maiden, Nurse on Wheels, The Big Job, The Plank, Lock Up Your Daughters!, Pete’s Dragon and Scandalous. His television roles, meanwhile, include appearances in The Equaliser and Cosby.

More recently, he’s recorded the Harry Potter audiobooks and picked up many awards for his efforts.

Albert Potter (Jim Dale) thinks he’s lost the love of his life (Screaming!)

DALE ROAD

A road mentioned in Cabby during the scene where Peggy and Sally are held at gunpoint by crooks while driving one of the Glamcabs.

DALE, SHEILA

Played by Carol White

In Teacher, Dale is one of the ringleaders among the schoolkids who wreak havoc when a school inspector and child psychiatrist visit Maudlin Street Secondary Modern School.

DALEY, LADY

Played by Margaret Nolan

The busty wife of Sir Roger Daley appears in Dick.

DALEY, SIR ROGER

Played by Bernard Bresslaw

Sir Roger is a member of the landed gentry who’s tasked with running the Bow Street Runners, a special police unit formed to stop the upsurge in crime. Seen in Dick, his main objective is to catch the master villain himself: highwayman Dick Turpin, who happens to rob Sir Roger of all his possessions, including clothes, on two occasions. Although Sir Roger is married to the delectable Lady Daley, he still likes a little fun on the side.

DANCING GIRLS

Played by The Ballet Montparnesse

When the Rumpo Kid takes over Belle’s Place in Cowboy, he transforms Stodge City’s hostelry into a rowdy, smoky establishment full of debauched customers, with entertainment provided by the dancing girls performing the cancan.

DANCY

Played by Peter Gilmore

One of the crooks in Cabby who hold Peggy and Sally at gunpoint.

DANDY

Played by Guy Ward

In Emmannuelle the effeminate dandy wanders by a sentry, makes a comment and receives a wink in return.

DANDY

Played by John Clive

In Henry a crowd at Speakers’ Corner gather to debate the new Sex Enjoyment Tax being imposed by the King. The Dandy, however, turns to his friend and remarks that it won’t affect them! (Note: the scene was cut.)

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

The Heckler, Young Man and a Dandy are standing at Speakers’ Corner, listening to debate about the newly proposed Sex Enjoyment Tax (S.E.T.).

EXT. ‘SPEAKERS’ CORNER’ OF THE TIME – DAY

Hampton is addressing an at-the-moment rather apathetic little crowd of men.

HAMPTON: I tell you, citizens, we’ve had some cruel taxes thrust upon us but this is one of the most infamous of them all! Are we going to take it lying down? No, let’s stand up to it!

HECKLER: Don’t matter which way you have it, you’ll still have to pay!

(This gets a laugh from the crowd.)

HAMPTON: You might find it amusing at the moment, friend, but will you still feel like going home and taking your wife in your arms regularly?

HECKLER: Yes.

HAMPTON: And afford it?

HECKLER: Yes. I’m knocking it off her housekeeping!

(This gets another laugh.)

HAMPTON: All right, all right. That may be all right for you friend, but what of you unmarried younger men? You, lad!

(He points to a YOUNG MAN in the crowd.)

HAMPTON: Are you married?

YOUNG MAN: No, fear.

HAMPTON: Ah! Well, do you ever take a young maid into the fields for a bit of dalliance?

YOUNG MAN: I’m going tonight.

HAMPTON: Knowing that with S.E.T. you’ve got to pay up for every little kiss and cuddle? No! Let’s have it off, I say!

YOUNG MAN: I intend to!

(Another laugh.)

HAMPTON: Then you’re a fool! Friends, I appeal to you! If the basic simple pleasures of life are to be taxed where’s it going to end? Soon we’ll be paying just to have a good scratch! We’ve got to put a stop to S.E.T. now!

HECKLER: How?

HAMPTON: Simple! Keep away from the women! Go on strike! Down tools!

(There are some ‘Hear hears’ and murmurs of approval from the crowd now.)

(C.S. of two dandies, looking on dispassionately. One looks to the other petulantly.)

DANDY: Oh come on, Cedric. It doesn’t affect us.

DANDY DESMOND

A fictitious name Captain Fancey adopts while travelling incognito trying to track down Dick Turpin in Dick.

DANE, ALEXANDRA

Roles: Female Instructor in Doctor, Busti in Up The Khyber, Stout Woman in Again Doctor, Emily in Loving and Lady in Low-cut Dress in Behind. (Note: Also had uncredited role in At Your Convenience but scene cut.)

Born in Bethlehem, South Africa, in 1946, Alexandra Dane always wanted to be a ballerina but her mother steered her towards an acting career. After graduating from Cape Town University with a degree and diploma in drama, she headed for England in the mid-1960s to begin her acting career.

Her first post was assistant stage manager at Bognor Regis, before progressing to juvenile lead and moving on to other reps. Theatre has dominated Dane’s career and during the 1960s she formed her own company, the Cambridge Shakespeare Group, and toured South Africa, affording her the chance to direct.

Her screen career has seen her appear in films such as Corruption, Confessions of a Handyman and, in 1977, Jabberwocky, while her small-screen credits include The Saint, Hazell and The Tripods, as well as semi-regular characters in Not On Your Nellie, Alas Smith and Jones and The Doctors.

In 1981, she formed her own puppet company, Pom Pom Puppets, and performed around the world, including Tenerife and India. After recently buying a farm in Spain, Dane, who’s retired from acting, is considering relaunching her puppet shows in the country.

MEMORIES

‘My first role was playing an instructor in Doctor, running antenatal classes. I was told to improvise but didn’t know anything about pre-natal in those days so I got them lifting their legs up and down. I’ve had children since then and know it’s one of the last things you’d do at antenatal class; any medical person would have been going mad!

‘One of the nice things about the Carry On films is that when they’d used you once, if they liked you it could lead to other parts, which is what happened to me. Along came Up the Khyber and I was offered the part of Busti.

‘I’ll always remember Nora Rodway, who was helping her husband, Geoff, with the make-up. I had to use a lot of body make-up but in those days you didn’t have these quick-tan methods, so Nora had to put it on with a sponge and water, and she had to do it every morning because I had so much of my body showing in Up the Khyber. I’ll always remember her saying: “This is like distempering a small room!” She pleaded with me not to bath each evening because I’d keep washing this water-based liquid off and she’d have to go through the job each morning.

‘In Again Doctor I had a nasty accident and suffered back problems for some time after. I was leaning back on a machine made to look like it was out of control and it came out of the floor resulting in me going to hospital.

‘Working on the Carry Ons was the happiest, happiest experience. Even when thinking about all the other bits and pieces I did in movies and on tele, I can’t remember being happier because everyone was so sweet to you. I adored them all, it was like being part of a big family. It’s extraordinary that after appearing in Shakespeare and rep, which I was doing when I appeared in the Carry Ons, I’m remembered for small parts in those films; I’d never have believed it. They were lovely films to work on.’

ALEXANDRA DANE

DANGLE, MRS

Played by Joan Sims

Emile Prevert’s housekeeper-cum-cook in Emmannuelle. A widow since the death of her husband, Henry, Mrs Dangle takes care of the French Ambassador’s culinary needs.

DANIEL, DANNY

Sound Recordist on Henry, At Your Convenience, Matron, Dick, Behind, England, That’s Carry On and Emmannuelle

Working as a sound recordist from the late 1960s, his various screen credits include Kidnapped, Nothing But the Night, Diamonds On Wheels and, in 1985, Murder Elite.

DANIEL, J. W. N.

Sound Recordist on Loving

Working as a boom operator on the 1957 film, Miracle in Soho, J. W. N. Daniel was credited as a sound recordist from the 1970s on films such as The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and Revenge.