1969 British comedy film by Gerald Thomas
Carry On Again Doctor is a 1969 British comedy film, the 18th release in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992).[1] It was released in December 1969 and was the third to feature a medical theme.[1] The film features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor and Hattie Jacques.[2] This was Jim Dale's last Carry On appearance for 23 years until his return in Carry On Columbus.[3] It also marks the debut of Patsy Rowlands to the series in her first of 9 appearances.[4] The film was followed by Carry On Up the Jungle 1970.
Plot
At the Long Hampton Hospital, Dr Jimmy Nookey (Jim Dale) seems to attract trouble, beginning with an incident where he enters the women's washroom by mistake, frightening the highly-strung Miss Armitage out of her senses.. Nookey's carefree manner is not to everyone's liking, with Dr. Stoppidge (Charles Hawtrey) wanting Nookey sacked for the washroom incident. Accident-prone Nookey then quickly falls in love with a film star patient named Goldie Locks (Barbara Windsor). During some misadventures with the X-ray machine, Nookey triggers a massive short circuit in the hospital's electrical system, resulting in more mayhem. With the hospital Matron (Hattie Jacques) and his moody boss Dr. Frederick Carver (Kenneth Williams) now watching his every move, Dr. Nookey drinks, at a staff party, a fruit punch spiked by jealous Dr. Stoppidge. The drunk Nookey, after almost getting into bed with a patient, ends up on a hospital trolley which crashes through a window. Goldie leaves him because he is not interested in marriage. Meanwhile, Carver and his rich patient Ellen Moore (Joan Sims), dispatch the disgraced Nookey to Moore's medical mission in the Beatific Islands, where it rains for nine months of the year. Nookey discovers Gladstone Screwer (Sid James), the local medicine man, who has a weight-loss serum. Nookey soon returns to England and opens a new surgery with Mrs. Moore, angering Carver. While Matron joins Dr. Nookey's clinic, Carver and Stoppidge plot to try to steal the serum. Stoppidge dresses as a female patient to effect the theft, but his luck runs out when Nookey catches him in the act. Goldie returns to take the serum, much to Nookey's chagrin. Gladstone quickly discovers that Nookey is making a fortune from his serum, and cuts off his supply to deliver the product in person and get in on the action. Nookey prevaricates, so Gladstone gives him a dose, which seems to cause sex changes. The movie ends with Nookey and Goldie getting married at the Moore-Nookey-Gladstone-Carver facility, and the rest of the staff of the Long Hampton Hospital becoming friends again.
Production notes
The original script for Carry On Again Doctor raised problems with Rank's legal adviser, who felt it was too similar to an unfilmed 'Doctor' script that Talbot Rothwell, writer of Carry On Again Doctor, had previously submitted to producer Betty Box. Most notably, both scenarios featured the medical mission/slimming potion idea. As Box had not taken up the option on Rothwell's 'Doctor' script, however, it was felt there were no legal problems with the use of those ideas in this film.
Cast
Wilfred Brambell's character was a non-speaking cameo in an early scene. When he appeared, the theme from Steptoe and Son was played over his scene.
Release
When the film was released by American International Pictures in New York in February 1973, they released it under the title Carry on Doctor.[7]
The sequence where Dr Nookie short circuits the hospital's electrical system and the ensuing mayhem formed introduction to the 1980s compilation show Carry On Laughing.
Critical reception
Empire wrote "The fast moving plot and changing locations keep the show moving, and makes this one of the more successful entries in the series."[1]
