50 years of Carry On - page 2

18-08-2008 15:53

Although the films were still successful into the seventies there was unrest amongst the cast as many believed that the quality of their slapstick pictures was beginning to decline and in 1971 Carry On at Your Convenience was the first box office failure for the series.

After this hiccup the team returned to the well known setting of the hospital for Carry On Matron as the script carried on to poke fun at the NHS.

But as times changed so did the film's subject matter as the British public were enjoying more and more holidays the Carry On scripts began to use this as subject matter in Carry On Abroad, about a disastrous package holiday, and Carry on Girls.

By the mid seventies writer Talbot Rothwell, who had been with the franchise for over a decade, left his role and the established members of the cast were appearing in fewer and fewer of the films.

And then in 1976 Carry On regular Sid James passed away.

A revival was attempted in the early nineties as Carry On Columbus was released but it was panned by the critics.

And now, to celebrate fifty successful years of the series, Carry on London was announced in 2003 and the script was signed off earlier this year with rumours that Shane Richie and Vinnie Jones will star.

Despite the plans to resurrect the series it's the films that were released in the sixties that are held in the fondest memories and the Carry On pictures and it's main cast remain a major instrument in British filmmaking.

'Infamy, Infamy... they have all got it in for me'

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw