Carry On will be back – as a panto

15 simultaneous 'big name' shows planned to revive the franchise

The Carry On franchise will be rebooted with a series of 15 pantomimes across the UK, says the company that owns the rights to the name.

Last week, producer Nigel Gordon-Stewart said the comedy series would be back with its first new film in 35 years – which was at least the sixth time a movie has been mooted this century.

Now he has told the Daily Star he will be using the pantos – all of which will run simultaneously in resorts including Blackpool and Brighton – as a ‘soft launch’ for the brand’s revival.

His company, the Carry On Entertainment Group, then plan to launch a West End musical before the new series of films.

The shows will actually run next summer, rather than in the traditional Christmas panto season.

Gordon-Stewart added that they would be ‘refreshing antidote to wokery’ saying; ‘These pantos will be a return to vaudeville and variety shows, and bring back the idea that a bit of good, old-fashioned British comedy is good for everyone and all the family.

‘Wokery isn’t going to come into these productions, because no one can get offended by a Carry On panto.’

He said that ‘big names in entertainment and comedy are being lined up for the shows but added ‘we have to keep their identities under wraps for now’.

Last weekend, he said the first instalment in the rebooted film franchise would be. called Carry On Beside The Sea and revolve around a seaside beauty pageant. That was also the premise of the 1973 film Carry On Girls, pictured above.

The original franchise comprised 31 films, four Christmas specials, a television series and stage shows, starting with Carry On Sergeant in 1958.

Regular stars throughout the films included Kenneth Williams, Bernard Bresslaw, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey, Barbara Windsor, Peter Butterworth and Terry Scott.

There was a 14-year gap between the penultimate film, Carry On Emmannuelle and the much-derided Carry On Columbus in 1992, which employed the new generation of alternative comedy stars such as Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Julian Clary and Keith Allen alongside old-school stars Jim Dale, Leslie Philips and Bernard Cribbins.

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Published: 23 Jun 2024