Radar / Carry On... Series

aka: Carry On Abroad

One could argue that the change in British censorship has the Carry On movies to thank, so with the double entendres and implications to anything "rude" at the time, it's not surprising that there are moments like this. The biggest staple of the comedies were that had a similar humour to British seaside postcards.

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Sexuality

LGBT rights in Britain changed the most in the 20th century. With the right to be openly homosexual in 1967, the media was slowly beginning to accept people that didn't fit the hetero-normative society. Naturally, the Carry On movies exploited this as much as they could without suspicions from Moral Guardians.

• First of all, the Carry Ons is known for having two (although closeted) gay leading actors: Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey. Both men portrayed Camp Straight characters that would usually end up being either the prize in a Love Triangle between two Old Maid women, or a perverted womanizer, but the script had them written with a slight knowingness because of the occasional campy Large Ham they suddenly got.
  • Take Carry On Henry, in which Kenneth Williams as Thomas Cromwell (despite almost becoming the man that Queen Marie cheats on Henry VIII with) shrieks with panic after the queen collapses like a busybody housewife. It even shocks the angry Henry out of his mood.
  • Another actor that was a closeted homosexual was Frankie Howerd, who was known for exaggerating his camp personality in his stand-up comedies. There was also Julian Orchard, who portrayed camp characters in bit roles, but it was unknown whether he was gay in real life.
• Dr Crow from Carry On Spying was portrayed by Judith Furse but dubbed by John Bluthal. No pronouns are used to refer to the character, but it is mentioned that some characters don't know themselves.
  Dr Crow: I am Doctor Crow. You are surprised?
  Daphne Honeybutt: Yes, I am! I expected you to be a man... or a woman.
• Disguised in Drag moments, anyone? Especially when the disguised character and another person of the same gender as the person they were pretending to be fall in love.
  • Not to mention, the moments when other characters caught (what looked like) two people of the same gender romantically embracing.
    • In Carry On Jack, Albert and Sally (in drag as Albert) kiss on the boat and then proudly announce that they are getting married. Walter doesn't react but Fearless is too arrogant to react with anything other than annoyance. He also says one of the most ironic sentences in the film series' history:
    Fearless: I said I wanted a happy ship, but this is ridiculous! ^note The irony in that the sentence probably had nothing to do with the implications of the word "happy", which had the synonym "gay", despite the current meaning of the latter word being known of back in the 1960s.
    • Cyril (disguised as an intern nurse) falls in love with his roommate Susan. When the two of them are kissing on the floor, Sid walks in, looking for his son, and immediately walks out to check the next bedroom, slightly confused.
  • Men in terrible drag were often attractive to other male characters. Some of them were Kenneth Williams, adding to the subtexts.
• Carry On Christmas had this:
  "I'm fed up with this wretched camp!"
  "I'm sorry we're not all the same!"
  • There was also a fight between Cinderella's Fairy Godmother (Frankie Howerd) and Cinderella's Widow Twankee-like friend (Charles Hawtrey). Cinderella's friend snaps at the fairy, "If you're a fairy, then I'm the queen!" The studio audience roared with laughter.
• Carry On Camping had Peter Potter telling his wife Harriet about a story of one of his colleagues who went to Scotland. The colleague's wife had a one-night stands with a haggis, and "now she's expecting a little faggot", with "faggot" being a type of haggis, as well as a derogatory word for a gay man.

Dialogue

• From Henry, when the Queen firsts with Thomas Cromwell, this exchange occurs:
  Queen Marie: A lot of men have been carried out after spending an hour with me.
  Thomas Cromwell: Yes... but not feet first!
• "It doesn't matter if you don't get it up the first time; making sure it stays up is what really counts," says Dr Soaper, talking about setting up a tent.
• Don't Lose Your Head:
  Citizen Camembert: [watching Desiree struggle to stand upright in the carriage] What's the matter with you?
  Desiree Dubarry: It's these long hills and English country roads. I shan't be able to sit down for a week.
  Citizen Camembert: [disgustedly] I wish you wouldn't be so vulgar.
  • Rodney disguises as an insurance salesman and says to Camembert:
    Sir Rodney (Black Fingernail): Are you fully covered?
    Citizen Camembert: [worried, protectively touching his chest] I hope so!
    • Rodney inspects the guillotine and claims that it's not working because of "a kink". The executioner refuses to believe that he's got a "kinky runner."
• Carry On Again Doctor:
  • After being accused of fraud, Ellen snaps at Dr Carver, "You're always exposing something."
• Carry On Dick might as well have been banned for the amount of innuendo in it.
  • Madame Desiree's entire travelling act has narration that is full of radar-passing stuff.
  • Dick's alter ego is called the "Reverend Flasher". Flashers are people (who usually wear trenchcoats) that purposely expose their naked bodies to the public.
  • In disguise as the Reverend Flasher during a church service, Dick suggests that anyone in the congregation that believes they haven't committed a sin that week should leave immediately. Bodkins walks to the door and is praised by Dick, but he points out that Dick's talk of adultery and sinning "reminded [him] of where [he] left [his] hat last night." Everyone in the church (except the gob-smacked Miss Hoggett) roars with laughter while Tom and Dick corpse.
  • Fancey sends Strapp to look for male genitalia that has a birthmark on it. After many failed tries, he sits next to Fancey to rest.
    CPT Desmond Fancey: Something tells me that this is going to be a very long ordeal.
    SGT Jock Strapp: If that's the case, it would be much easier for me to look at, innit?
  • Madame Desiree states that she's "bigger ones" when Dick points a pistol in her face.
  • Harriet is interrogated by Fancey for being a suspect in Dick Turpin's case, and this moment occurred.
    CPT Desmond Fancey: Where can we find Dick?
    Harriet: Pfft, search me. I've lived here ten years and I haven't found any.
  • When waiting for her actresses to get ready for the performance, Madame Desiree spots the women flirting with the male pub residents. She turns to Bodkins and says:
    Madame Desiree: What are my girls doing down here? They're supposed to be performing!
    Bodkins the innkeeper: [bemused] I thought that's what they were doing.
• This from Camping:
  Dr Soaper: If they're to suddenly feel any unnatural urges, send them straight to me.
  Miss Haggerd: To you?
  Dr Soaper: Yes.
  Miss Haggerd: I was talking about the girls.
  Dr Soaper: So was I.
• Almost everything Dan Dann says in Carry On Screaming:
  Dan Dann: Hello, Mrs Peabody. Nice woman. Her husband's a customer of mine... You know, I can honestly say that I know everyone who goes past here intimately.

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