productions
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carry on christmas 1969 |
carry on
again christmas 1970 |
carry on christmas
capers 1972 |
carry on christmas 1973 |
carry on
laughing 1975 |
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Information
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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