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Since the end of the 1960's the Carry On's branched into telly with the rather splendid 1969 Christmas Special. Along the way, three more Christmas specials of various quality were produced along with a fully fledged spin-off series, which was awful.

Also worthy of a mention is the numerous film clip shows that showed off the best scenes in the films. The first of these was 'Carry On Laughing' made for ITV in 1981, quickly followed by 'What A Carry On' for the BBC in 1983. Both these shows used the Rank films made between 1966 and 1976.

Such was the success of the ITV's Carry On Laughing, both Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor were brought in to link the film scenes for a Christmas special in 1983 entitled 'Carry On laughing's Christmas crackers'. Click here, here and here for some publicity pictures from that show.

Just before he died, Gerald Thomas made a final compilation series entitled 'Laugh With The Carry On's'. This utilised the remaining Anglo-Amalgamated films along with Carry On Emmannuelle. This was broadcast by ITV at irregular intervals during 1993.

Also worthy of a mention is the highlights of the stage show Carry On London which was broadcast by ITV on October 4th 1973. Entitled 'What A Carry On', it has never been repeated on telly, and is sadly missing, believed wiped.  It was apparently pretty good, but without having seen it, none of us can comment on it!

There have also been numerous documentaries on the series and their stars. Some of these like 'What's a Carry On?' are excellent and give an enjoyable insight into the series with many recollections from its cast and crew. Unfortunately others such as 'Carry On Darkly' serve little purpose other than muck raking over peoples personal lives and are best avoided.

All in all, the Carry On's on telly certainly provided an interesting distraction from the films, but on the whole, don't hit the heights of the movies they were spun off from.

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