Carry on Christmas

It wasn't till the end credits came up that I discovered that it was Talbot Rothwell,who wrote the original Carry Ones. Difficult to understand how they could make such an unfunny programme,but they did..Only Frankie Howerd was mildly funny.

They must have given the audience some Christmas cheer to make them laugh so hysterically. Maybe they were watching a different show.

I am always the first to watch a Christmas film or TV special and I do love a good 'Carry On', but this wasn't the brilliant hour of funny that it could have been.

If they had tackled Dickens' Carol more fully instead of just in bits thrown together with Shelley and Stoker, I think it would have been far more successful, similar perhaps to 'The Muppets' version. Unfortunately they tried a bit too hard to bring too much in to it and it all became OTT.

I did like a lot of the elements and they could have all worked together with a bit more thought.

Charles Hawtrey made me giggle as he always does, but it was Frankie Howerd that really made it his own. His quick wit, one liners and ad-libs gave us all a good titter, I kid ye not. It was a shame that Sid didn't get the lines he deserved and favourites like Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams and Jim Dale were missing.

It is quite daft, but it's just innocent fun that doesn't mean to offend. There are lots of references to cross dressing and men fancying men, but there's no malice. It doesn't offend me at least and is only of it's time.

205.15.

The first of the Thames Carry On specials made for television. This is a cheap pantomime take on the Christmas Carol.

Sidney James plays misery tightwad Ebenezer Scrooge, he is mean to Bob Cratchit (Bernard Bresslaw) who is looking for some festive cheer.

In an answer to Bob's prayers. Scrooge is visited by three ghosts to help him fix his penny pinching ways.

This really does play fast and loose with Dickens's tale. The spirits takes the viewer to Dr Frank A Stein's surgery, Cinderella's house and the poet Robert Browning (Frankie Howerd) hoping to take his lover to Venice.

If it was not for Frankie Howerd, this would had been a total failure. You can sense that the Carry On team knocked this one out quickly.

Very amusing television show, with every slapstick innuendo, classic line possible from all previous and future films and TV specials.

This is 50 mins of little giggles to huge belly laughs. Barbra Windsor is wonderful with her wicked giggle. The rest of the cast (familiar from all our favourite Carry On films including Frankie Howard) all have at least two roles to play and it is obvious they were having fun filming the show. There are too many instances where you can see they are about to giggle while delivering lines to mention. If you get a chance to see it on a TV special, and you are a Carry On fan and missed it. DO IT! What a carry on Xmas giggle........

For those perfectionists it is a 1 star

For me it is the perfection of television humor in the 70's and is worthy of TEN stars (out of ten) for the classic 70's humor back then.

Feel free to Flame Me but this is classic Brit Humour from the 70's

This humour will never be seen in new shows, enjoy!!

Comedians just want to have a giggle. It would be great if they could be as open and honest as the Carry On team, and funny, without the HR Political Police ruining it for the rest of us.

My score is 5 out of 5 but NOT on a cultural scale, just a Carry On scale..... simply brilliant and funny.

Far too many overly long lines, poems and speeches shoe-horned into it, to be consistently enjoyable. Such a shame, as you can see the actors are right at their peak. Frankie Howerd is absolutely sparkling and he provides pretty much the only fun in the show. Hattie Jacques and Babs Windsor are ruined by the script, they have so much to remember it's like they're just reading a prescription label.

The writers have clearly never heard of the phrase "less is more". Frankie got more laughs out of a simple "ooh" or "aah", than all the boring rhymes that you can see the actors are finding a chore themselves.

The Carry On movies are so enjoyable, because of the laid back attitude. This just tries to squeeze in far too much and it suffocates most of the fun out of it.