The Complete A–Z of Everything Carry On

BLUNT, STANLEY

Played by Kenneth Connor

A member of the party which travels to Elsbels with Wundatours Limited in Abroad, Mr Blunt is henpecked and denied the carnal pleasures he expects from his marriage by a wife who thinks even the word ‘sex’ is vulgar let alone the actual activity. While away, he sees in Cora Flange everything he’d like his wife to be, but by the time the holiday comes to an end, he finds his own wife, Evelyn, is a changed woman, thanks to a little help from Georgio, the hotel barman.

BLUTHAL, JOHN

Roles: The Headwaiter in Spying, Corporal Clotski in Follow That Camel and the Royal Tailor in Henry

John Bluthal, born in Galicja, southeast Poland, in 1929, emigrated to Australia with his family in 1938, where he later studied at Melbourne University. He came to England in the mid-1950s, worked initially in theatre before television and film offers came his way.

Since the 1960s he’s been a regular on the screen. His film credits include The Mouse on the Moon; Doctor in Distress; Father Came Too!; Help!; Casino Royale; Doctor in Trouble; Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World; The Return of the Pink Panther; Superman III and, most recently, Love’s Brother.

On television, Bluthal, who frequently works in Australia, has been seen in, among others, Sykes, The Saint, The Goodies, Bergerac, Inspector Morse, It’s A Square World, Q5, The Pathfinders and Vicar of Dibley, playing Frank Pickle.

BOA, BRUCE

Role: US Ambassador in Emmannuelle

Forever remembered as Mr Hamilton, the American guest in classic sitcom Fawlty Towers, Bruce Boa was born in England in 1930 but raised in Calgary, Canada, where he later played professional football.

After moving to England in the 1950s he was soon appearing on television and screen, with television credits including Out of this World, The Avengers, Special Branch, The Champions, Dempsey and Makepeace and Kavanagh QC. In 1969 he had a running part in The Troubleshooters, playing Bill Douglas.

He appeared in various films, such as Man in the Moon, The Cherry Picker, The Omen, Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, Octopussy, Riders of the Storm, Full Metal Jacket and Screamers.

He died in 2004, aged seventy-three.

BOB

Played by Brian Osborne

A student from the University of Kidburn’s archaeological department who helps Professor Crump at the dig in Behind. While staying at the Riverside Caravan Site, next-door to where they’re digging, Bob and his mate befriend two girls, Carol and Sandra, who are camping.

BODDEY, MARTIN

Roles: 6th Specialist in Sergeant and Perkins in Nurse

Born in the Scottish town of Stirling in 1907, Martin Boddey was a busy character actor in film, television and theatre. On the big screen, where he was often seen playing policemen, his lengthy list of credits included Cage of Gold, Seven Days to Noon, The Franchise Affair, Laughter in Paradise, The Magic Box, Chain of Events, Girl in the Headlines and Tales from the Crypt.

On television, he was seen in shows such as The Troubleshooters, Brett, The Cheaters, The Champions, Dr Who, Ivanhoe and The Naked Civil Servant, his final job.

He died in 1975, aged sixty-eight.

BODKIN

Played by Bill Maynard

The barman at the Old Cock Inn, which is regularly frequented by local criminals, is seen in Dick.

BOGGINS, MAUDE

Played by Barbara Windsor

Maude Boggins is the real name of Goldie Locks, alias Melody Madder, the actress-cum-model who sets Dr Nookey’s pulse racing in Again Doctor.

BOGGLE AND LUGG

A firm of plumbing and sanitation engineers, whose company van is a grey Vauxhall, registration FVB 352D. The vehicle and the partners, Sid Boggle and Bernie Lugg, are seen in Camping.

BOGGLE, SID

Played by Sidney James

Seen in Camping, Sid Boggle is one half of Boggle and Lugg, plumbing and sanitation engineers. As well as workmates, Sid and Bernie Lugg are best friends; they date Joan Fussey and Anthea Meeks respectively but are frustrated at the progress they’re making towards the bedroom, so Sid suggests they visit a nudist camp, featured in a film at the local cinema. Unfortunately for Sid and Bernie, they pick the wrong site and end up in a mudpit in Devon. Possessing an eye for the girls, Sid becomes interested in the nubile Babs, who’s camping with other girls from the Chayste Place Finishing School, before eventually realising that Joan is the one for him.

BOGGS, LEWIS

Played by Richard O’Callaghan

William Boggs’s son who works at the family firm, W.C. Boggs and Son, manufacturers of quality toilet ware since 1870. Lewis, who’s impatient at times, feels that the company’s business philosophy is stuck in the nineteenth century. He’s desperate to modernise not just the company’s product range, such as selling bidets like its competitors, but attitudes of those working for the company, including his father’s. His approach, however, occasionally leaves much to be desired; still inexperienced in the field of work relations, he antagonises the union representative, Vic Plummer, and is to blame for some of the industrial disputes that have blighted the company for years.

Away from work, the sports-car-driving young executive (car registration VOP 436J) is smitten with Myrtle Plummer, the canteen girl who happens to be daughter of the works foreman; his determination in the race to secure a place in Myrtle’s heart eventually pays off when he buys a special marriage licence and they tie the knot.

BOGGS, WILLIAM C.

Played by Kenneth Williams

The managing director of W.C. Boggs and Son, makers of fine toilet ware. The company has been in the family since it was established in 1870, and heading it nowadays is William, supported by his son, Lewis. Their views on how the company should operate differ considerably, causing friction from time to time. While the forward-thinking Lewis wants the firm to keep up with the times, William prefers the cautious approach, sticking with the tried and tested styles and designs that have served the company well for years. Lewis eventually gets his way, though, over the long-disputed issue of whether Boggs should sell bidets in its range; but even with customers queueing up to order, William takes some convincing that it’s right for the firm’s image.

While he’s ably assisted in the office by the devoted Miss Withering, he conducts his personal life without the support of his wife, whom he refers to while testing a newly designed loo. He tells others attending the meeting during At Your Convenience how she had a terrible experience of what happens when a toilet cracks because it can’t take the weight.

BOITA, PETER

Editor on Sergeant and Emmannuelle

Born in London in 1924, Peter Boita completed his education at the Westminster City School and worked in a factory before joining the RAF in 1942. During his five years’ service he was posted to Singapore and Hong Kong.

Back on civvy street, a friend of his father’s landed Boita a job at Islington Studios, assisting the dubbing editor. When the studio closed, he moved to Shepherd’s Bush Studio and assisted film editor, Jimmy Needs, on a host of pictures, such as Jassy and Snowbound. He later followed Needs to Pinewood and continued working as his assistant until eventually branching out and working for other editors, including Gerald Thomas, who was responsible for giving Boita his big break.

When commissioned to direct a film, Circus Friends, for the Children’s Film Foundation, Boita was offered the chance to edit the picture, the first of many in a long and distinguished career. His credits include The Horsemasters and Third Man On the Mountain for Disney, The Duke Wore Jeans, The Traitors, Jane Eyre, Doctor in Trouble and The Jewel of the Nile. For television, he edited such productions as The Far Pavilions and Lace.

He died in 1997.

BOLTON, PETER

Assistant Director on Cabby, Spying, Cleo, Cowboy and Screaming!

Born in Bradford in 1914, Peter Bolton spent the lion’s share of his career as an assistant director, working variously on comedies, documentaries and dramas, primarily for the big screen. His credits in this medium include Hungry Hill, Sleeping Car to Trieste, Tottie True, A Day to Remember, Saint Joan, Left Right and Centre, The Big Job, A Severed Head and, in 1972, Pope Joan.

BOOKS

See here.

BOON, ERIC

Roles: Shorty in Constable and Second in Regardless

Born in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, in 1920, Eric Boon reigned as British lightweight boxing champion between 1938–44. Just eighteen when crowned champion, Boon served in the RAF during the war and went on to box in Canada, Australia and America before retiring from the ring.

He made a handful of television and film appearances, including playing Clinker in 1944’s Champagne Charlie. He died in 1981, aged sixty-one.

BOOSEY, BILL

Played by Sid James

Bill ‘Rattlesnake’ Boosey leads the expedition into the African jungle in Up the Jungle. Not the bravest of men: upon hearing the drums of the infamous Nosha tribe reverberating around the jungle, he wants to head back, but Lady Bagley’s and Professor Tinkle’s insistence leaves him little option but to continue. When he later finds himself in the hands of the all-female Lubidubies tribe, he’s soon glad he continued with the expedition.

BOROUGH COUNTY HOSPITAL

The setting for Doctor, where the likes of Doctor Tinkle and Doctor Kilmore are employed.

BOROUGH COUNTY TIMES

A newspaper in Again Doctor carrying news of the mayhem Dr Nookey causes at the Long Hampton Hospital.

BORTHWICK HECK

A firm of estate agents based in Chiswick, London, whose ‘For Sale’ board is seen in Constable outside a property in Church Road where the criminals involved in a wages snatch dump their car.

BOTTOMLEY, MRS

An unseen character in Constable, Mrs Bottomley, who’s referred to as living at number twenty-four, asks the police to call around because she’s concerned about suspicious activities in the rear of her premises. Mentioned by Sergeant Wilkins, who asks one of the policemen to investigate.

BOURNE AND JONES

A milliner’s shop in Screaming!.

BOWLER

Played by Edmund Pegge

Seen in the opening scenes of Follow That Camel bowling to Captain Bagshaw at the cricket match.

BOY

Played by Larry Dann

In Teacher the bespectacled, sallow-faced boy puts his hand up in class because he’s desperate to use the loo, just when Alistair Grigg and Felicity Wheeler, two important visitors at the school, have popped in to the class to observe. He’s later seen pounding away at the drum in the school play.

BOY LOVER

Played by Mike Grady

For the ‘Boy Lover’ in Loving, see ‘Girl Lover’.

BRACKNELL, DAVID

Assistant Director on Follow That Camel, Loving, Henry, At Your Convenience, Abroad and Dick

David Bracknell has been working as an assistant director since the early 1960s, with credits including The Boys, Serena, A Shot in the Dark, Funeral in Berlin, Lust for a Vampire, Bless This House, Swallows and Amazons, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Murrow.

BRADLEY, C.

The unseen Second Assistant Purser on the Happy Wanderer in Cruising. His name is seen on the crew list.

BRADLEY, JOSIE

Role: Pianist in Loving

Josie Bradley’s other work includes an appearance as Freda in the 1947 film, The Mysterious Mr Nicholson, and Mildred Knottage in a 1969 episode of the television series Detective.

BRAGG, ERNIE

Played by Bernard Bresslaw

One of Sid Carter’s gang in Matron, the gormless Ernie Bragg was born on top of the number seventy-three bus in the middle of Brixton High Street.

BRAGG, ERNIE

Played by Jack Douglas

An electrician who holidays with his friend, Fred Ramsden, in Behind. When their respective wives decide on a break in a health farm, Fred persuades the easily-led Ernie to accompany him to the Riverside Caravan Site under the guise of a fishing trip. What Fred hopes they will catch, though, is a couple of birds – and not the feathery kind! They’re out of luck, although not through lack of trying, which is just as well because their wives eventually turn up at the camp site. Although they’d sent a telegram to inform their husbands of their arrival, the message never reached Fred and Ernie.

BRAGG, VERA

Played by Patricia Franklin

When her husband, Ernie, heads off in a caravan to the Riverside Caravan Site with his close friend, Fred Ramsden, Vera opts for a health farm with Fred’s wife, Sylvia. They eventually surprise their husbands by turning up at the caravan site unannounced. They had sent a telegram informing their husbands of their impending arrival, but the message never reached Fred and Ernie.

BRAKES, DAWN

Played by Margaret Nolan

The former Miss Dairy Queen is one of the contestants in the Miss Fircombe beauty contest in Girls. First seen sharing the same train compartment as Peter Potter, who’s also travelling to Fircombe to organise publicity for the event; just before the train moves out of the station the carriage jolts forward and Peter accidentally rips Dawn’s skimpy top, revealing her ample bosom, much to his fiancée’s disgust. A model by profession, she poses for dirty mags, and asks Lawrence, the rather green local photographer, to take some snaps of her naked on the beach.

BRAMBELL, WILFRID

Role: Mr Pullen in Again Doctor

Wilfrid Brambell, born in Dublin in 1912, will forever be remembered for his fine portrayal of Albert Steptoe in fifty-nine episodes of BBC’s classic sitcom. Brambell’s father worked in a brewery while his mother was an opera singer. His first performance was as a two-year-old entertaining wounded troops during the Great War.

Upon leaving school he worked as a cub reporter for The Irish Times during the day and part-time actor at the Abbey Theatre in the evenings. He later took the plunge and turned professional after securing a job at Dublin’s Gate Theatre.

During the Second World War he toured with ENSA, and afterwards appeared in numerous reps including Bristol, Bromley and Chesterfield, before working in the West End and on Broadway.

His television work included Life with the Lyons, the 1950s sci-fi series, The Quatermass Experiment and No Fixed Abode, while his film credits include The 39 Steps, The Three Lives of Thomasina, A Hard Day’s Night, Where the Bullets Fly and Holiday on the Buses.

He died in 1985.

BRAY, HENRY

Played by Brian Oulton

Bray is rather ostentatious with his claims of grandeur. During his stay at the Haven Hospital in Nurse, he tells fellow patients a pack of lies, such as owning a house on the expensive west side of the Common. It’s only when his wife, Rhoda, visits that we learn the truth, although Henry is constantly trying to shut her up in case she’s overheard.

BRAY, KEN

Stills Cameraman on England and Emmannuelle

Ken Bray’s other credits as a stills cameraman include the 1978 film, The Playbirds.

BRAY, RHODA

Played by Hilda Fenemore

Seen in Nurse, Rhoda visits her husband, Henry, while he’s recuperating at Haven Hospital, but spends the entire visiting period embarrassing her beloved who’s trying to make out he’s something he isn’t.

BRAYSHAW, DEBORAH

Role: French Buxom Blonde in Emmannuelle

An occasional actress during the 1970s, she was seen playing a technician in an episode of Doctor Who, as well as an episode of Special Branch. On the big screen, she appeared as a go-cart girl in Confessions from a Holiday Camp.

BREGONZI, ALEC

Role: 1st Storeman in Sergeant. (Note: Also played a Beach Photographer in At Your Convenience but the scene was cut.)

London-born Alec Bregonzi’s professional acting career began, like many of his contemporaries’, in repertory theatre in the mid-1950s. In venues at Farnham, York, Bromley and Leatherhead he learnt the ropes of the profession before West End opportunities came his way, including parts in Camino Real and understudying Ronnie Barker.

While his theatre career progressed, offers to appear on television came his way, including parts in the small-screen version of Hancock’s Half Hour. During the 1970s and ’80s, he worked with a host of comedians, including Cannon and Ball, Kenny Everett and Little and Large. Other credits during this period range from The Two Ronnies, Filthy Rich and Catflap and London’s Burning to The Barchester Chronicles, Great Expectations and The Recruiting Officer. For four years he read viewers’ letters on BBC’s Points of View, presented by Barry Took, which spawned a radio series, Joke by Joke. More recently, he supplied many voices for the 1990s animated children’s series, The Treacle People.

Bregonzi has also appeared in a handful of films, such as Face of a Stranger, Ricochet, Downfall from the Edgar Wallace series, and Revenge of the Pink Panther. Sadly, one of his best parts was in a French film, L’Etincelle, which has never been screened in Britain. He’s also done a lot of theatre work, including several plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

BRENNAN, J.

The unseen Second Officer on the Happy Wanderer in Cruising. His name is seen on the crew list.

MEMORIES

‘Alas, my memories of Carry On Sergeant are few and not happy ones. I was one of the storemen who had a little scene with most of the principals. Mine was with Gerald Campion, with whom I’d worked in a stage version of Billy Bunter at the Victoria Palace.

‘We rehearsed the scene in Sergeant, which was a two-shot, and as the director walked away Gerry told me to change position slightly, which would have meant he would be favoured more by the camera and my ear and nose would be more prominent than my face. Gerald Thomas overheard this and said: “We’ll do it exactly as rehearsed!” So we did. The scene was cut, though, probably at the last minute because my billing in the credits is much too good for an – ultimately – non-speaking character. I was very disappointed, as you can imagine, especially after the good credit and then just a glorified walk-on part.

‘Later, I played a beach photographer, where people put their heads through funny cut-outs, at Brighton in At Your Convenience. This time all of me ended on the cutting-room floor. I asked Peter Rogers at a Carry On do once why I was always cut and he said Eleanor Summerfield had suffered the same fate, only more so!’

ALEC BREGONZI

BRESSLAW, BERNARD

Roles: Little Heap in Cowboy, Sockett in Screaming!, Sheikh Abdul Abulbul in Follow That Camel, Ken Biddle in Doctor, Bunghit Din in Up The Khyber, Bernie Lugg in Camping, Upsidasi in Up the Jungle, Gripper Burke in Loving, Bernie Hulke in At Your Convenience, Ernie Bragg in Matron, Brother Bernard in Abroad, Peter Potter in Girls, Sir Roger Daley in Dick and Arthur Upmore in Behind

TV: Christmas (69), Christmas (70), What a Carry On!, Christmas (73), Under the Round Table, Short Knight, Long Daze, And In My Lady’s Chamber, Who Needs Kitchener? and Lamp Posts of the Empire

STAGE: London! and Wot a Carry On in Blackpool

Bernard Bresslaw was born in London in 1934. His mother, who was fascinated by the theatre, was keen for her son to become a tap dancer and enrolled him at local dancing classes, which didn’t last long.

While at school – he attended Coopers School, Mile End – his English master recognised Bresslaw’s love and talent for English Literature and drama and coached him ready for his drama entrance exam. He studied at RADA after winning one of two annual London County Council Awards, and was awarded the respected Emile Littler Award for Most Promising Actor.

After graduating, one of his first jobs was appearing as an Irish wrestler in MacRoary Whirl, a production staged by Laurence Olivier. He later asked Bresslaw to replace him in Home and Beauty, when Olivier was in need of a break.

Bresslaw was gaining valuable experience at various repertory theatres and as part of a touring company playing RAF camps, Borstals and even mental institutions, and before long he received offers to appear on television and in films. Credits on the big screen included Men of Sherwood Forest, Up in the World, Blood of the Vampire, Too Many Crooks, It’s All Happening, Up Pompeii and Krull, while on television he was seen in, among others, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Vise, Danger Man, Arthur of the Britons, The Goodies, Sykes and, what he’s best remembered for on television, The Army Game. National Service as a driver-clerk in the Royal Army Service Corps had provided an insight into life in the services and he used it to good effect in the long-running series.

Playing Private Popplewell in the highly successful comedy series, The Army Game, propelled him to national prominence but saw him typecast in goofy roles, which continued throughout his time with the Carry On series. But Bernard, who was proud of his classical training, possessed the talent to turn his hand to any job he was offered, and was particularly proud of his time in, among others, Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing. It was whilst appearing at Regent’s Park in Taming of the Shrew, in 1993, that he collapsed and died, aged fifty-nine, after suffering a heart attack.

Although people will always remember him for his screen work, Bernard’s preferred medium was the theatre, and he never declined the chance to return to the stage.

MEMORIES

‘Bernard was such a gentle giant of a man. Very sweet-natured, very calm and everybody that knew him loved him. I met him at the London Palladium, just after he’d left The Army Game. I was dancing in the Royal Variety Show at the Palladium with the George Sanders Dancers, while Bernard was appearing in a sketch.

‘Like most actors he had periods of unemployment but, thank God, not many. There would only be a couple of weeks between jobs and he enjoyed a nice, steady career.

‘It was while he was performing in Taming of the Shrew at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park that he died. It had been quite a stormy day and Bernard was sitting in the dressing room, enjoying a cup of tea, awaiting the weather reports. He suddenly turned to one of the cast and asked for a couple of Aspirin because he had a terrible headache – that was unusual for him. When the person turned round to give him the tablets, Bernard suddenly fell forward, the cup of tea falling out of his hand. That was it. By the time he arrived at the hospital he was dead. Only three months before he’d been declared perfectly fit, having had a thorough examination.