Carr y On Screaming!
Poor Joan Sims never could catch a break.
© PETER ROGERS PRODUCTIONS, WARNER/PATHÉ
I’ve still got a soft spot for the Carry On films. Yes, their seaside postcard innuendos were dated even by the ’80s. But for good or bad, they embody aspects of British culture. And the cast included great comic performers – as a Tony Hancock fan, I think anything featuring Sid James, Kenneth Williams or Hattie Jacques is worth a watch.
My favourite of the 29 entries (let’s pretend Carry On Columbus never happened) is Carry On Screaming! Though generally described as a Hammer parody, it owes as much to The Addams Family, while the plot – mad scientist sends the monstrous Oddbod to kidnap women, then turns them into shop-window dummies – borrows from 1953’s House Of Wax.