When the Carry On Stopped: Why Britain's Most Successful Comedy Film Franchise Suddenly Halted. This item is unavailable.When the Carry On Stopped: Why Britain's Most Successful Comedy Film Franchise Suddenly Halted

When the Carry On Stopped looks at how the Carry On film series made its painful transition from one film company, Anglo-Amalgamated, to another, the Rank Organisation. In examining this little-known but fascinating story, the growth of Anglo-Amalgamated is highlighted through the success of its owners, partners Stuart Levy and Nat Cohen. Levy’s sudden death in 1966 encouraged Cohen to ditch the Carry Ons in favour of more prestigious feature films. Without a film distributor, the series’ producer Peter Rogers, was forced to search for another, eventually finding the series a new home at Rank. However, Rank was unwilling to endorse the work of a rival and so dropped the ‘Carry On’ title. The Carry On series looked doomed. When the Carry On Stopped also sheds new light on the careers of the Carry On stars at this critical time. We learn of Barbara Windsor’s involvement in the stage disaster Twang!!, of Jim Dale’s stage success, Sid James’ first heart attack and Charles Hawtrey losing his mother. The book calls out the fat shaming of Joan Sims as one of the many injustices shown to her by the producer. This is essential reading for Carry On fans and those interested in the machinations of the British entertainment industry in the 1960’s.

Dave Ainsworth wrote the award-winning play Oh Hello about the Carry On star Charles Hawtrey which was chosen as a ‘Pick of the Fringe’ at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It also won the Laurel Award for Best Play. Other works include Who’s Afraid of Rachel Roberts and Greville’s Whore. A stand-up comedian and actor for a number of years, Dave taught acting at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. He lives with his wife Sue in West Wales.