Carry On Team - Regular Cast

Regular Cast

The following actors are considered to be the core members of the Carry On team:

• Kenneth Williams (26 films, including co-presenting That's Carry On!) played a range of character types, nearly always a lead character. Early roles were rather strait-laced, he then sometimes played his snide character: quite slimy and smarmy with a distinctive nasal voice. Later the haughty, proud and easily outraged elitist became more frequent and Williams' best-known character type. Williams sometimes played characters of other nationalities, such as in Up the Khyber. In some roles, when not actually playing his role in snide mode, Williams might deliver a single joke using his snide voice. A running gag in many of the films was that Williams' character would be embroiled in an extra marital affair with that of Hattie Jacques (something of an irony given Williams' real-life homosexuality) - this plot device was used to greatest effect in the hospital based films, which gave rise to Williams' famous catchphrase "ohhh Matron!".
• Joan Sims (24) had the longest uninterrupted run of roles in Carry On films, being in all 20 films (excluding That's Carry On) from Carry On Cleo to Carry On Emmannuelle. Played a range of characters from jolly and assertive young women with sturdy moral standards (Camping, Loving), to sexy and lusty matrons - either desired (At Your Convenience) or coarse and unattractive (Henry, Up the Khyber), to a chatty glutton (in Matron), a battleaxe wife (Screaming) and an unattractive spinster (Doctor). Additionally, she also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and eleven episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Charles Hawtrey (23) often played a meek, rather effete 'mummy's boy' who could suddenly erupt into riotous behaviour. Other roles were as a strict, officious and prissy person in an authority role. Hawtrey's characters were often bumbling and accident prone, and the victim of various mishaps and complex misunderstandings. Additionally, he also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials.
• Sid James (19) always played a lead character, usually a laconic member of the working class. His characters were often lecherous womanisers, something that caused problems in James' private life. Additionally, he also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and four episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Kenneth Connor (17) often played put-upon men ranging in character from pompous to meek, and often leering. He also provided some additional voice-work in Emmannuelle when he dubbed the dialogue of Howard Nelson (Harry Hernia). Additionally, he also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and twelve episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Peter Butterworth (16) frequently played major roles in the films, often as a generally benign, unflappable but bumbling assistant or servant unable to see the chaos around him. Unusually for a regular, in some films, including Again Doctor, Henry and Loving, his role consists of a cameo appearance in a single scene. Additionally, he also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and nine episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Hattie Jacques (14) played the haughty matron, school senior mistress or other archetypal authority figure in several films. Later she branched out into more varied comic roles (e.g. At Your Convenience, Loving and Abroad, in which she played a chef embroiled in a constant battle with the stove). Additionally, she also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and one episode of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Bernard Bresslaw (14) varied between playing the clumsy dimwit or the heavy, or the lusty and bombastic "foreigner". In the later films his characterisation developed greater depth, such as in Dick, Behind. Additionally, he also appeared in three of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and five episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Jim Dale (11) joined the series with support roles, but quickly progressed to playing the younger, sympathetic male lead, often in the film's romance plot strand. From his debut had an uninterrupted nine-film run. After a two-film absence (Camping and Up The Khyber) returned for Again Doctor, his final Carry On until taking the lead role in the 1992 revival film Carry On Columbus.
• Barbara Windsor (10, including co-presenting That's Carry On with Williams) played main roles in all her Carry On appearances. Her characters were always the cheeky and saucy young blonde, often in revealing costumes. Sometimes her characters were chaste (and very often chased), some were easily swayed. Additionally, she also appeared in all four of the Carry On Christmas TV specials, and eight episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Patsy Rowlands (9) started in support roles, often as undervalued, meek and mousey secretary or assistant who undergoes transformation into a more assertive and sexually aware woman. Additionally, she also appeared in one episode of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Jack Douglas (8) joined the series with a cameo appearance in Matron, where he appears in one scene with a single line of dialogue. After an only slightly larger role in the following film Abroad, where he again plays his established Alf Ippititimus-type character, his roles increased in size and increasingly diverged from the familiar Alf performance. After his debut Douglas appeared in all subsequent films in the original series, and was one of the few returners for Columbus. Additionally, he also appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and twelve episodes of the Carry On Laughing TV series.
• Terry Scott (7) appeared briefly in the first film Sergeant and returned 10 years later when he played, among others, the put-upon husband (Camping), the barking sergeant (Up the Khyber) and lusty doctor (Matron). Additionally, he appeared in two of the four Carry On Christmas TV specials, and filmed a guest appearance for At Your Convenience which was not used in the finished film.
• Leslie Phillips (4) appeared in three early films Nurse, Teacher and Constable after which he left the series only to return 32 years later for Columbus as the King of Spain.