Getting Intimate With The Carry Ons

It was a scene blessed. The rolling South Downs covered in crisp late autumnal early morning dew, while - from my vantage point in the front room of the then Carry On scriptwriter, Talbot ‘Tolly’ Rothwell’s house - I was being willingly given a poetic crash course in all things Mother Nature.

Tolly’s two Golden Retrievers were getting restless. All the talk of the great outdoors was sending them over the edge.

 

The four of us were soon stepping out and crossing the few feet from Tolly’s gravel driveway and on to the damp green blades of the Downs.

Talk on that half-term Wednesday morning soon turned to the somewhat surreal happenings of the previous Sunday. An afternoon dominated by grand arrivals and off-centre lessons in the complexities of adult gatherings.

The occasion had been one of the sporadic social get togethers of Carry On cast and crew. A time when the post midday hours were orchestrated by Kenneth Williams, and played out to a soundtrack of laughter and one-upmanship.

 

 

Tolly had been intrigued to what I had made of the event. He’d noted that Hattie Jacques had spent a good hour with me .. the two of us engaged in deep conversation.

I explained that she had raised the somewhat thorny topic of weight gain .. a ‘condition’ that had hung heavy on both our lives.

Hattie was sweet and understanding. I was barely in my teens and she geared the conversation towards my adolescent body image concerns.

 

Initially I was embarrassed that the topic had been raised. But Hattie’s almost sisterly approach instilled in me a new found confidence.   

Then there was Sid, the old rascal. Sid James, bless him. A man very much of his time. Flirty-yet-a-gentleman. Trustworthy, though would bet your granny if he thought the old nag would come home first.

At the party I’d also been accosted by Kenneth Williams. Don’t think he liked the fact I’d been happily sitting quietly with his fellow Carry On team.

 

 

Kenneth very much saw himself as the numero uno. So I was subjected to his full repertoire of peacock-like strutting. Much laughter was had!

 

Barbara Windsor had arrived well after the party had peaked. Kenneth made sure he was next to her, or there abouts, for the remainder of the afternoon.

 

I noted that while he was talking to Barbara his eyes were actually locked into an intense gaze with Sid's. It would be a few years before I knew what that was all about!

 

Tolly loved to hear these tales. He found the inner workings of the Carry On cast a great inspiration for his writing.

 

As lunchtime approached we dropped down from the hills and took lunch at his local, The Shepherd and Dog. Tolly's attention was soon lost to the throng. I think they loved him just about as much as I did!

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A Write Carry On - The Untold Story Of A Man In The Shadows

by Mike Cobley

Wholepoint Publications