{{Short description|1967 British comedy film by Gerald Thomas}} {{More footnotes needed|date=October 2018}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox film | name = Carry On Doctor | caption = Original UK quad poster by [[Renato Fratini]] | image = CarryonDoctor.OriginalUKQuadposter.jpg | director = [[Gerald Thomas]] | producer = [[Peter Rogers]] | writer = [[Talbot Rothwell]] | narrator = | starring = [[Frankie Howerd]]<br />[[Sid James]]<br />[[Kenneth Williams]]<br />[[Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1914)|Charles Hawtrey]]<br />[[Jim Dale]]<br />[[Barbara Windsor]]<br />[[Hattie Jacques]]<br />[[Joan Sims]]<br />[[Anita Harris]]<br />[[Bernard Bresslaw]] | music = [[Eric Rogers (composer)|Eric Rogers]] | cinematography = [[Alan Hume]] | editing = [[Alfred Roome]] | distributor = [[The Rank Organisation]] (UK) | released = {{Film date|1967|11|21|df=yes}} | runtime = 94 minutes<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/carry-on-doctor-film-qxnzzxq6vlgtntg2ndcz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028165912/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/carry-on-doctor-film-qxnzzxq6vlgtntg2ndcz|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 October 2021|title=Carry On Doctor |work=British Board of Film Classification |access-date=19 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ross|1998|p=72}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Rigelsford|1996|p=161}}</ref> | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = £214,000 }}
'''''Carry On Doctor''''' is a 1967 [[British comedy]] film, the 15th in the [[Carry On (franchise)|series of 31 ''Carry On'' films]] (1958–1992). It is the second in the series to have a medical theme.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|date=11 August 2025|access-date=11 August 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-film-studios-the-rank-organisation-1965-to-1967/|title=Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1965 to 1967}}</ref> [[Frankie Howerd]] makes the first of his two appearances in the film series and stars alongside regulars [[Sid James]], [[Kenneth Williams]], [[Jim Dale]], [[Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1914)|Charles Hawtrey]], [[Joan Sims]], [[Peter Butterworth]], and [[Bernard Bresslaw]]. [[Hattie Jacques]] returns for the first time since ''[[Carry On Cabby]]'' four years earlier, while [[Barbara Windsor]] returns after her debut in ''[[Carry On Spying]]'' three years earlier. ''Carry On Doctor'' marks [[Anita Harris]]'s second and final appearance in the series. The film was followed by ''[[Carry On Up the Khyber]]'' in 1968.
==Plot== [[Charlatan]] [[faith healer]] Francis Bigger, who convinces attendees, with the help of his assistant Chloe Gibson, that "[[mind over matter]]" is more effective than medical treatment, suffers an accident during one of his lectures. Admitted to the local hospital, he quickly demands a private room after encountering his ward's eccentric patients: bedridden layabout Charlie Roper, who fakes symptoms to stay in hospital; Ken Biddle who, while recovering from an operation, makes frequent trips to the ladies' ward to flirt with his love interest, Mavis Winkle; and Mr Barron, whose mental health has declined following news his wife is due to give birth to their first child, leaving him suffering [[Sympathetic pregnancy|sympathy pains]]. During Bigger's stay in hospital, he meets the clumsy yet charming Dr. Jim Kilmore, who is popular with the patients and loved from afar by the beautiful Nurse Clarke, who subsequently causes him trouble by accident while being checked over. The day after his admission, Bigger meets Dr. Kenneth Tinkle, Kilmore's superior, who is detested by the patients as much as is the battleaxe Matron, Lavinia, who harbors an unrequited love for Tinkle.
Shortly after Bigger's arrival, the hospital receives a novice nurse, Sandra May, who reveals to Clarke that she intends to meet Tinkle to repay him for saving her life - although in reality, she was merely given treatment for tonsillitis. After completing a shift on the wards, May heads for Tinkle's room to profess her love for him, violating hospital rules that female staff are not permitted in the male quarters. However, Tinkle cruelly rebuffs her affection, only to find himself caught in an awkward situation by Kilmore and Matron. Fearing for his position, after the departure of May and Kilmore, Tinkle contrives with Lavinia to cover up the truth. An opportunity soon arises for Tinkle to be rid of Kilmore. The young doctor spots May going onto the roof of the nurse's home and believes she is going to commit suicide after her encounter with Tinkle, unaware she intends to sunbathe. In trying to rescue her, Kilmore creates an unfortunate scene that leaves him subject to claims of sexual deviancy.
Summoned to a hearing with the hospital governor, Kilmore attempts to reveal the truth, but Tinkle and Matron deny the accusation, revealing that May has since been made to leave. Nurse Clarke knows what really happened on the roof. With his reputation in ruins, Kilmore decides to resign, prompting Clarke to tell the male patients what she knows. Roper, disgusted with what was done to Kilmore, arranges for the whole ward to seek revenge on Tinkle and Matron, with Biddle asking Mavis for the help of the women patients. Conducting a nocturnal mutiny, the patients swiftly subdue Sister Hoggett, preventing her from alerting the orderlies. The group bring along Bigger who, after mishearing Tinkle's conversation with his assistant, believes he is dying. This has prompted him to marry Chloe. The gang capture Tinkle and Matron. While the women force a confession from Matron by making her endure a blanket bath, the men force Tinkle to confess after threatening him with an [[enema]], after several other methods fail to work.
The next day, Dr Kilmore is appointed the new hospital registrar while Tinkle is reduced to a simple doctor. Mr Barron, now fully recovered and cured, leaves with his wife and their new baby. Meanwhile, Bigger prepares to leave the hospital with Chloe, but resents the bickering he must endure and the fact that he must give up his work as a faith healer. On the way out, Bigger deliberately falls on the steps and injures his back again. As he is being brought back inside the hospital, he breaks the [[fourth wall]] to inform the audience he hopes he will be staying for a long time.
==Cast== {{Div col|colwidth=30em}} *[[Frankie Howerd]] as Francis Kitchener Bigger *[[Kenneth Williams]] as Doctor Kenneth Tinkle *[[Sid James]] as Charlie Roper *[[Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1914)|Charles Hawtrey]] as Mr Barron *[[Jim Dale]] as Doctor Jim Kilmore *[[Hattie Jacques]] as Lavinia, the Matron *[[Peter Butterworth]] as Mr Smith *[[Bernard Bresslaw]] as Ken Biddle *[[Barbara Windsor]] as Nurse Sandra May *[[Joan Sims]] as Chloe Gibson *[[Anita Harris]] as Nurse Clarke *[[June Jago]] as Sister Hoggett *[[Derek Francis]] as Sir Edmund Burke *[[Dandy Nichols]] as Mrs Roper *[[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]] as Chaplain *[[Deryck Guyler]] as Surgeon Hardcastle *[[Gwendolyn Watts]] as Mrs Mildred Barron *[[Dilys Laye]] as Mavis Winkle *[[Peter Gilmore]] as Henry *[[Harry Locke]] as Sam *[[Marianne Stone]] as Mother *[[Jean St. Clair]] as Mrs Smith *[[Valerie Van Ost]] as Nurse Parkin *[[Julian Orchard]] as Fred *[[Brian Wilde]] as Cox & Carter man *[[Lucy Griffiths (actress, born 1919)|Lucy Griffiths]] as Miss Morrison *[[Gertan Klauber]] as Wash orderly *[[Julian Holloway]] as Doctor Simmons *[[Jennifer White Shah|Jenny White]] as Nurse in bath *[[Helen Ford]] as Nurses Home nurse *[[Gordon Rollings]] as Night porter *[[Simon Cain]] as Tea orderly (uncredited) *Cheryl Molineaux as Women's ward nurse (uncredited) *[[Alexandra Dane]] as Female instructor (uncredited) *[[Pat Coombs]] as Anxious patient (uncredited) *Bart Allison as Granddad (uncredited) *Jane Murdoch as Nurse (uncredited) *[[Stephen Garlick]] as Small boy (uncredited) *[[Patrick Allen (actor)|Patrick Allen]] as Narrator (uncredited) {{div col end}}
==Crew== *Screenplay – [[Talbot Rothwell]] *Music – [[Eric Rogers (composer)|Eric Rogers]] *Production manager – Jack Swinburne *Art director – Cedric Dawe *Editor – [[Alfred Roome]] *Director of photography – [[Alan Hume]] *Assistant editor – Jack Gardner *Continuity – Joy Mercer *Assistant director – Terry Clegg *Camera operator – Jim Bawden *Make-up – Geoffrey Rodway *Sound recordists – Dudley Messenger and Ken Barker *Hairdressing – Stella Rivers *Dubbing editor – David Campling *Costume designer – Yvonne Caffin *Title sketches – [[Larry (cartoonist)|Larry]] *Producer – [[Peter Rogers]] *Director – [[Gerald Thomas]]
==Filming and locations== Filming dates: 11 September to 20 October 1967
'''Interiors''': * [[Pinewood Studios]], Buckinghamshire
'''Exteriors''': * Maidenhead, where the [[Maidenhead Town Hall|Town Hall]] doubled for the hospital * Masonic Hall, Uxbridge * Westbourne Street, London WC2
==Reception== ===Box office=== The film was the third biggest general release hit at the British box office in 1968, after ''[[The Jungle Book (1967 film)|The Jungle Book]]'' and ''[[Barbarella (film)|Barbarella]]''.<ref>"John Wayne-money-spinner", ''[[The Guardian]]'', 31 December 1968: p. 3</ref> According to ''[[Kinematograph Weekly]]'', there were four British films in the top ten general releases of 1968: ''[[Up the Junction (film)|Up the Junction]]'', ''[[Poor Cow]]'', ''[[Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (film)|Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush]]'' and ''Carry on Doctor''.<ref>Kinematograph Weekly, 14 December 1968, p. 6</ref>
===Critical response=== The film received mixed responses from critics. The [[British Film Institute]] described the film as a "Bedpanorama of hospital life", writing: "This new ''Carry On'' looks back to the Doctor series in that the farce is rather less grotesque than of late and much of the material is in light comedy vein. In all other respects, though, it is the story as before. The plot is no more than a mess of inane sketches involving the misfortunes of hospital patients and staff, punctuated by a string of tasteless jokes about castor oil, bedpans and parts of the anatomy. Frankie Howerd joins the regulars and seems quite at home".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/mfb/1378186/index.html |title=THE MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN |website=screenonline.org.uk |access-date=17 December 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last1=Bright|first1=Morris |last2=Ross |first2=Robert |title=Mr Carry On – The Life & Work of Peter Rogers |publisher=BBC Books |location=London |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-563-55183-6}} *{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Andy |title=Carry On Confidential |publisher=Miwk |location=London |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-908630-01-8}} *{{cite book |last=Eastaugh |first=Kenneth |title=The Carry On Book |publisher=David & Charles |location=London |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-7153-7403-0}} *{{cite book |last=Hibbin |first=Sally & Nina |title=What a Carry On |publisher=Hamlyn |location=London |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-600-55819-4}} *{{cite book |last=Hudis |first=Norman |title=No Laughing Matter |publisher=Apex |location=London |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-906358-15-0}} *{{cite book |last=Rigelsford |first=Adrian |author-link = Adrian Rigelsford|title=Carry On Laughing – a celebration |publisher=Virgin |location=London |year=1996 |isbn=1-85227-554-5 }} *{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Robert |title=The Carry On Companion |publisher=Batsford |location=London |year=1998 |orig-year=1996 |isbn=0-7134-8439-X }} *''Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema'' by Simon Sheridan (third edition, 2007: Reynolds & Hearn Books) *{{cite book |last=Sheridan |first=Simon |title=Keeping the British End Up – Four Decades of Saucy Cinema |publisher=Titan Books |location=London |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-85768-279-6}} *{{cite book |last=Webber |first=Richard |title=50 Years of Carry On |publisher=Arrow |location=London |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-09-949007-4}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0061450}} * {{rotten-tomatoes|carry_on_doctor}} *{{British Comedy Guide|film|carry_on_doctor}} *{{archive url|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213093030/http://www.thewhippitinn.com/carry_on_film_locations/carry_on_doctor/|title=''Carry On Doctor Location Guide'' at The Whippit Inn}} *[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/466237/ ''Carry On Doctor'' at BFI Screenonline]
{{Carry On Films}} {{Gerald Thomas}}
[[Category:1967 films]] [[Category:Carry On films|Doctor]] [[Category:1967 English-language films]] [[Category:Films directed by Gerald Thomas]] [[Category:Films set in hospitals]] [[Category:1967 comedy films]] [[Category:Color sequels of black-and-white films]] [[Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios]] [[Category:American International Pictures films]] [[Category:Films produced by Peter Rogers]] [[Category:Films with screenplays by Talbot Rothwell]] [[Category:1967 British films]] [[Category:Films about faith healing]] [[Category:Films scored by Eric Rogers (composer)]] [[Category:British sex comedy films]]