The Complete A–Z of Everything Carry On

ASKWITH, ROBIN

Role: Larry in Girls

Born in Southport, Lancashire, in 1950, Robin Askwith was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, Rickmansworth. Unable to take up a place at Bristol University, where he intended reading English and drama, he happened upon a career in acting, beginning with a margarine commercial, followed by, in 1968, the part of Keating in Lindsay Anderson’s film, If.

He’s made over thirty films but is arguably best remembered for playing the lead in the Confessions sex comedies of the 1970s. Other film credits include Scramble; Hide and Seek; Bless This House; Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers; Brittania Hospital, again with Lindsay Anderson, and, in 2000, The Asylum. His television work over the years has seen him appear in, among others, The Borderers, Boon, Sunburn and Doctors.

In 1977 he formed The Comedy Company and toured the world with various shows. Today, he lives on the island of Gozo.

ASSISTANT MANAGER

Played by Robin Ray

The assistant manager of F.H. Rowse, a department store in Constable, isn’t informed by his manager of PC Benson and PC Gorse’s undercover work attempting to catch shoplifters in the store, which explains the confusion that ensues when they become suspects themselves.

AT YOUR CONVENIENCE, CARRY ON

See feature box here.

ATKINS, JOHN

Played by Paul Cole

In Teacher, Atkins is a leading culprit among the kids who set out to cause havoc when a school inspector and child psychiatrist visit Maudlin Street Secondary Modern School.

ATS GIRL

Played by Barbara Rosenblat

Based at the experimental 1313 anti-aircraft battery in England, she’s one of the shirkers who suffers a severe shock to the system when the tough-speaking Captain Melly is put in charge of the unit.

ATTRACTIVE NURSE

Played by Shane Cordell

One of the nurses employed at Haven Hospital in Nurse.

AU PAIR GIRL

Played by Zena Clifton

When the pregnant film star, Jane Darling, is rushed off in the back of an ambulance, Mr Darling can’t wait to wave his wife goodbye so he can return to the house and get his hands all over his au pair. Appears in Matron.

AUBREY, DIANE

Role: Honoria in Constable

Diane Aubrey, born in Nottingham in 1939, joined LAMDA straight from school. By the time she graduated she’d already made her acting debut, appearing in a 1957 episode of the series The Vise and the film Grip of the Strangler, a year later.

Although she worked in rep, most of her career was spent on the screen. As well as appearing in series like Moonstrike and Dixon of Dock Green, she played Sally Clarkson in Z Cars for several months during 1962, and Sandra in the 1963 series, Taxi!, with Sid James. On the big screen, her credits include Village of the Damned; Watch it, Sailor!; Petticoat Pirates;The Wild Affair and her last film, The Engagement in 1970.

She retired from acting at the age of twenty-nine after her children were born. Now based in London, she’s been teaching the Alexander Technique for twenty-four years.

AUNTIE

Played by Lucy Griffiths

Named as Aunt Acid in the Regardless script, she’s standing alongside Montgomery Infield-Hopping in the bachelor exhibit at the Ideal House Exhibition. She looks disapprovingly when Delia comes flying through the wall of the exhibit next-door, much to the delight of the raffish customer.

AVERY AVENUE

The road where Bide-a-Wee Rest Home stands in Screaming!

AXWELL, NURSE GEORGIE

Played by Susan Stephen

Georgie Axwell works on the ward at Haven Hospital in Nurse.

AZURE BAY

A region in the Beatific Islands where the Moore Medical Mission – which is nothing more than a decrepit wooden hut – stands. The bay is visited by Dr Carver and Dr Nookey in Again Doctor.

BABS

Played by Barbara Windsor

Seen in Camping, Babs (real name Barbara) is one of the nubile young ladies from Chayste Place, a finishing school, camping at the Paradise Camp Site. Out to enjoy herself, the mischievous Babs flirts with Sid Boggle, much to his girlfriend’s chagrin, while under canvas, before heading off on the back of a lorry with other partygoers at an all-nite rave in the adjoining field. (Note: in an early draft of the script, a character called Rosemary was due to lose her bikini top.)

BADEN-SEMPER, NINA

Role: Girl Nosha in Up the Jungle

Born in the West Indies in 1945, Nina Baden-Semper first appeared on screen in the 1960s but is best known for playing Barbie Reynolds in five series of the controversial sitcom, Love Thy Neighbour, during the 1970s.

Other small screen credits include Rainbow City, Counterstrike, Callan, George and Mildred and Children’s Ward. She appeared most recently in the revival of Crossroads. Her occasional film credits include Kongi’s Harvest, The Love Ban and 1999’s Rage.

BAGLEY, LADY EVELYN

Played by Joan Sims

Seen in Up the Jungle on the expedition into the jungles of Africa. Soon after her baby boy, Cecil, was born, her husband whisked her off to the African jungle for a belated honeymoon. Tragedy struck when her hubby took their son for an early morning stroll along the banks of the Limpopo River and neither were seen again. When her husband’s fob watch was later discovered inside a crocodile’s stomach, and her son’s nappy abandoned on the riverbank, she feared the worst. Now she has returned to try and find the nappy pin, just something she can cling on to as a memory of her little boy.

When she unexpectedly meets Cecil, the Jungle Boy, and finds he has a big, silver safety pin holding his loincloth together, she suddenly realises her little baby – now a very big baby – is still alive. She’s desperate to find her son and is finally reunited by the time Lady Bagley and the other members of the party, who manage to escape the grip of the Lubidubies, a female tribe in the jungle, head home; by then, she also comes face-to-face with her long-lost husband, who’s been given the title of King Tonka by the Lubidubies, and she returns to England with him in tow, too.

BAGLEY, WALTER

Played by Charles Hawtrey

It was thought that Walter Bagley, alias King Tonka in Up the Jungle, had been eaten by a crocodile in the African jungle. Whilst honeymooning with his wife, Evelyn, and their little baby boy, Cecil, he decided to take his son for an early morning stroll through the jungle. Nothing was seen of him, or the little boy, again; when his watch was later found inside a dead crocodile’s stomach, it was assumed he’d been eaten alive.

Lady Bagley, therefore, is shocked when she’s reunited with her husband, who hadn’t been gobbled up at all; he’s been living the life of Riley with the Lubidubies, a tribe of females, who appointed him King Tonka with the sole duty of mating with as many girls as possible. All those years ago, his watch was eaten by a warrior from the Nosha tribe, who was then eaten by a crocodile. The Noshas had captured Walter and his life was in peril until rescued by the Lubidubies.

When Lady Bagley returns home she takes Walter with her, whom the Lubidubies lose interest in once his wife appears on the scene.

BAGPIPE SOLDIER

Played by Simon Cain

A soldier of the 3rd Foot and Mouth in Up The Khyber.

BAGSHAW, CAPTAIN

Played by Peter Gilmore

One of Lady Jane Ponsonby’s many suitors in Follow That Camel, Bagshaw tries his utmost to see another, Bertram West, written off by accusing him of cheating at cricket. When West is banned from ever stepping foot inside the Ponsonbys’ mansion again, Humphrey Bagshaw’s conscience gets the better of him: realising he’s acted despicably, he tries committing suicide.

BAILEY, ANTHONY

Role: Rider in Dick

Londoner Anthony Bailey was born in 1933 and trained at the City Literary Institute. Primarily a stage actor, he appeared on the screen from time to time. On television, he had a running part as Roddy Barrows in Crossroads and was also seen in, among others, Arthur of the Britons, Barlow at Large, The New Avengers, The Professionals, Grange Hill and The Bill. His film credits included The Main Chance, Thunderball, The Deadly Bees and Hussy.

Most recently, he was appearing at the National Theatre in London. He died in 2004, aged seventy-one.

BAILEY, JAMES

Played by Kenneth Williams

In Sergeant, James Bailey is a member of Sergeant Grimshaw’s Able Platoon. An educated snob, he ruffles Grimshaw’s feathers from day one with his supercilious manner. Eventually, though, he blends with the rest of the platoon and is instrumental in persuading them to give their utmost to become champion platoon. A graduate, his abilities are put to good use when he moves to the Education Corps after basic training.

BAIRD, ANTHONY

Role: Guard in Spying

Born in London in 1920, Anthony Baird has appeared in over a dozen films, including Passport to Treason, Operation Conspiracy, Echo of Diana, The Ipcress File, Cheetah and Braxton, but his most notable appearance was in Ealing’s 1945 compendium, Dead of Night.

His television credits range from The Count of Monte Cristo and The Avengers to Strangers and a running role, as Mr Pearson, in Crossroads.

BAKER PLATOON

Sergeant Mathews’ platoon at Heathercrest National Service Depot in Sergeant.

BAKSH, SHAKIRA

Role: Scrubba in Again Doctor

Crowned Miss Guyana in 1967, Shakira Baksh came third in that year’s Miss World contest.

Born in 1947, she worked as a librarian and fashion model in Guyana before coming to England for the Miss World contest. She continued modelling and made a handful of screen appearances during the 1970s, including a couple of episodes of UFO. She was also seen in the films Son of Dracula and The Man Who Would Be King, with Michael Caine, whom she had married in 1973. Caine had first noticed Baksh in a Maxwell House coffee advert.

BALD-HEADED DOWAGER

Played by Joan Ingram

Seen at Sir Rodney Ffing’s charity ball in Don’t Lose Your Head, the bald-headed Dowager’s wig is accidentally blown off her head.

BALFOUR, MICHAEL

Role: Matt in Constable

From Genevieve and Man From Tangier in the 1950s to Batman and The Holcroft Covenant in the 1980s, character actor Michael Balfour was regularly in demand.

Born in Kent in 1918, he appeared in films from the late 1940s, including an uncredited role in the 1948 picture, Sleeping Car to Trieste. Other notable credits included Venetian Bird, Johnny On the Run and The Sea Shall Not Have Them. On the small screen, he was seen in, among others, Hancock’s Half Hour, Dixon of Dock Green, Man from Interpol and Department S.

Away from the screen, he created his own clown character and toured Europe with Gerry Cottle’s Circus. He was also an accomplished sculptor and painter, opening a gallery in Spain.

He died in 1997, aged seventy-nine.

BALL, NURSE SUSAN

Played by Barbara Windsor

Employed at the Finisham Maternity Hospital in Matron, the even-tempered Nurse Ball shares her room – number sixteen at the nurses’ home – with Nurse Carter, aka Cyril Carter. She realises he’s a fella when he falls over steps and reveals his unmistakable underwear. Upon discovering the motives behind Cyril’s disguise, she agrees to keep mum and ends up falling in love with her roommate.

BALL, VINCENT

Roles: Jenkins in Cruising and Ship’s Officer in Follow That Camel

Vincent Ball, who was born in Wee Waa, New South Wales, Australia, in 1923, left school at fourteen and worked as a messenger boy until, aged eighteen, he joined the Australian Air Force. He trained in Canada and the Bahamas before completing his tour of operations in England and Scotland.

Ball returned to Australia in 1945 and decided upon a career in acting. To reach England, he secured a job on a Swedish cargo ship and spent seven months cleaning the decks en route to the UK.

He’d previously written to film studios enquiring about work and was lucky enough, upon reaching England, to complete underwater swimming scenes for non-swimmer Donald Houston in the 1949 film, The Blue Lagoon. After his first taste of the film industry, he trained at RADA between 1949–51 and moved into repertory theatre, beginning at Leatherhead.

His film career started in the late 1940s and encompassed a host of pictures, including The Interrupted Journey, Dangerous Voyage, The Black Rider and Where Eagles Dare. More recently he’s been seen in, among others, The Man Who Sued God and The Cherry Orchard. On television, his credits include International Detective, Man in a Suitcase, Shannon’s Mob, The Outsiders, Mission Impossible and running roles in A Country Practice and Crossroads.

Ball’s recent work has mainly been in Australian television and films, which is where he’s lived since 1973.

BALLET MONTPARNASSE, THE

Roles: The Dancing Girls in Cowboy

The ballet company was occupied in light entertainment, appearing on numerous Variety bills in the 1950s and ’60s for Moss Empires, Stoll Theatres and other venues around the British Isles.

BALLS BOOK OF ENGLISH LAW

The book Bettina consults in Henry to check whether her marriage to King Henry VIII, a service he conducted himself, is legal; as he climbs into her bed he tries convincing her it’s all above board but she later learns the truth, and it’s just as well she resisted his advances because she’s later whisked off across the channel by Francis, the King of France, to become the country’s Queen.

BALSWORTH YOUTH HOSTEL

The youth hostel where the girls from Chayste Place stay en route to the Paradise Camp Site in Devon. The building is seen in Camping.

BANDLEADER

Played by Eric Rogers

Appears on stage in Again Doctor at the Long Hampton Hospital’s grand buffet and dance. He’s the bandleader of Alec and the Officers. (Note: this is the Eric Rogers who composed and conducted the music for so many of the Carry On films.)

BAND OF THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS

Played the music for Sergeant.

BANGOR, MISS

Played by Angela Grant

A brunette in the Miss Fircombe beauty contest who’s seen in Girls.

BANGS THAT MADE HISTORY

A book two schoolgirls borrow from the library at Maudlin Street Secondary Modern School in Teacher. They wait until Mr Adams, the science teacher, is on duty before requesting the title because they want him to believe they’re constructing a bomb – all part of the master plan to stop the acting head from leaving at the end of term.

BANK MANAGER

Played by Michael Nightingale

The bank manager in Stodge City is seen in Cowboy exasperated when the Rumpo Kid shoots yet another of his bank clerks. He explains they’ve been dropping like flies since the Kid arrived in town.

BANKS, EVELYN

Played by Patsy Rowlands

Sir Bernard Cutting’s trustworthy secretary in Matron.

BANKS, PETER

Role: Gunner Thomas in England

Born in St Thomas, Canada, in 1943, Peter Banks studied political science at university in Ottawa, where his interest in acting escalated. His father, who worked for the Canadian government, was posted to the UK so when Banks graduated, he followed his parents in 1967, initially earning a living at a West End casino.

After a year’s training at a studio theatre in Brighton, he began working in children’s theatre before joining Darlington Rep. He’d gained significant stage experience by the time he made his screen debut, on television, in The Private Thoughts of Julius Caesar. Other small-screen credits include The Famous Five, Oppenheimer and Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. His film credits include Death Wish 3, Highlander, Going Home and Method.

BARKER, ERIC

Roles: Captain Potts in Sergeant, Inspector Mills in Constable, The Chief in Spying and Ancient General in Emmannuelle. Also Cruising was based on an idea of Barker’s

Eric Barker, who made his name on radio’s Merry-Go-Round during the Second World War, a programme in which he adopted the catchphrase, ‘Steady, Barker!’, was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, in 1912.

He became one of radio’s favourite stars but also found time to clock up numerous screen credits, including Brothers in Law (for which he won a British Film Academy Award for the most promising newcomer), Happy Is The Bride, Bachelor of Hearts and Left, Right and Centre.

‘What’s this wiggly thing?’ asks Cleopatra (Amanda Barrie) (Cleo)

His working life began at his father’s wholesale paper business before he started writing short stories for magazines of the 1920s and ’30s; he also wrote plays and novels. In 1931 he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company and, two years on, began a long association with the Windmill Theatre, subsequently becoming the venue’s leading comedian. Also in this year, he made his radio debut in First Time Here.

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Navy after which he returned to radio to star in some of the great series between 1945–49. Although he made brief appearances on television, it was radio, film and stage work that occupied most of his career.

He died in 1990, aged seventy-eight.

BARKER, KEN

Sound Recordist on Cowboy, Screaming!, Don’t Lose Your Head, Follow That Camel, Doctor, Up The Khyber, Camping, Again Doctor, Up the Jungle, Loving, Henry, At Your Convenience, Matron, Abroad, Girls, Dick, Behind and That’s Carry On

During a busy career, the late Ken Barker worked on over fifty films. A sound recordist from the 1960s, his credits included The Long Duel, Countess Dracula, Twins of Evil, Kidnapped, Doomwatch, Educating Rita, Trail of the Pink Panther and four Bond movies: Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy. His television work included the sci-fi series UFO and Born to Run.

BARMAN

Played by Bill Pertwee

Works at the cocktail bar in the Parkway Hotel and is on duty when Bertie Muffet arrives to meet Esme Crowfoot in Loving. A case of mistaken identity sees Muffet walk out with Sally Martin, a model, who’s supposed to be waiting for a photographer.

BARMAN

Played by Simon Cain

Works at the Brighton hotel frequented by the staff of William Boggs and Son, a toilet ware manufacturer, whilst on their annual jolly. He’s seen in At Your Convenience.

BARMAN

Played by Kenneth Waller

Works behind the bar at the Riverside Caravan Site’s clubhouse during the cabaret evening in Behind.

BARNES, DAPHNE

Played by Joan Sims

Linda Upmore’s interfering mother is seen in Behind, making a nuisance of herself while accompanying her daughter and son-in-law on a caravan holiday to the Riverside Caravan Site. It’s hardly surprising she hasn’t seen her husband, Henry, for ten years, given her manner and constant complaining. She ran a pub until her hubby sold it, and claims she did all the work while he lazed around. She receives a big shock when she bumps into her former spouse at the caravan site, where he works as an odd-job man. Before the holiday is over, they’ve reignited the flame and plan on giving their marriage another try.

BARNES, HENRY

Played by Peter Butterworth

In Behind, Henry Barnes works as an odd-job man for Major Leep at the Riverside Caravan Site. Although he’s paid peanuts, he boasts around twenty grand in his bank account thanks to a win on the pools. He hasn’t seen his wife, Daphne, for ten years, ever since selling the pub they used to run, a decision which didn’t go down too well with his missus, who always claimed Henry was a lazy individual. He can’t believe his eyes when he bumps into his ex-wife at the caravan site, and before long they’re reliving old times and planning a future together.

BARRIE, AMANDA

Roles: Anthea in Cabby and Cleopatra in Cleo

Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, in 1939, Amanda Barrie started dancing and singing in her grandfather’s theatre in Ashton at the age of three. A trained dancer, Barrie was only thirteen when she became a chorus girl in London, debuting in Babes in the Wood, and in 1956 became a regular at London’s Winston’s Club.

She broke into the film world playing small parts in, among others, 1959’s Operation Bullshine, A Pair of Briefs a year later and 1963’s Doctor in Distress before the first of two Carry On appearances.

She’s probably best known, however, for her television work. As well as appearances in shows such as The Seven Faces of Jim, Danger Man, Are You Being Served?, L for Lester and, in recent years, Doctors and Hell’s Kitchen, she’ll always be remembered for playing Alma in Coronation Street and Bev in Bad Girls.

MEMORIES

‘As a revue I was in, Six of One, stumbled to its close in the summer of 1963, I was to have a gap of three weeks before going into the already acclaimed musical She Loves Me, at the Lyric Theatre, taking over from Rita Moreno. I had also been hired to play Cleo in the film Carry On Cleo, which, of course, was to turn out to be a real landmark for me. But my agent had made a ghastly mistake. It transpired that the filming of Cleo actually started on the same day that I was to go into She Loves Me. By the time we found out it was already too late to drop out of one of them decently, even if I had wanted to. So lucky old me, not just eight shows a week, but two productions at the same time.

‘I remain extraordinarily grateful to the Carry Ons. At the time they were just another job, but they had such visual impact that the images from them remain in people’s minds. It always surprises me that I receive just as many letters about Cleo, which was just one film made almost forty years ago, as I do about the Street. In spite of other people’s kind opinions I have never thought I was any good in Cleo.’

‘I really was naked in that bath – apart from bits of plaster over my nipples which looked pretty silly. Although tastefully shot from the back, this was very unusual in the early sixties. It seemed perfectly normal to me of course. I was an old chorus girl, more used to being undressed most of the time than dressed.’