Carry On Girls

Carry On Girls
Original UK quad poster
Directed by	Gerald Thomas
Produced by	Peter Rogers
Written by	Talbot Rothwell
Starring	Sid James Barbara Windsor Joan Sims Kenneth Connor Bernard Bresslaw June Whitfield Peter Butterworth Jack Douglas Patsy Rowlands Jimmy Logan
Music by	Eric Rogers
Cinematography	Alan Hume
Edited by	Alfred Roome
Distributed by	Rank Organisation
Release date	November 1973
Running time	88 mins
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£205,962

Carry On Girls is the 25th in the series of Carry On films to be made, released in Britain in 1973. The film is notable for being the first Carry On to feature neither Kenneth Williams nor Charles Hawtrey. Williams was appearing in a West End play, My Fat Friend. Hawtrey had been dropped from the series the previous year. The film features regulars Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth. Patsy Rowlands makes her seventh appearance in the series. Jack Douglas makes his third appearance, this time upgraded to a main role. Jimmy Logan makes a guest appearance in his second and final Carry On.

The seaside town of Fircombe is facing a crisis – it's always raining and there's nothing for the tourists to do. Councillor Sidney Fiddler (Sid James) hits on the notion of holding a beauty contest. The mayor, Frederick Bumble (Kenneth Connor), is taken with the idea but feminist councillor Augusta Prodworthy (June Whitfield) is outraged and storms out of the meeting. The motion is carried in Augusta's absence, and Sidney contacts publicist Peter Potter (Bernard Bresslaw) to help with the organization. Sidney's girlfriend, Connie Philpotts (Joan Sims), runs a local hotel and soon her residents—including the eccentric Mrs Dukes (Joan Hickson) and the Admiral (Peter Butterworth)—are outnumbered by putative models, including diminutive biker Hope Springs (Barbara Windsor) and tall, buxom Dawn Brakes (Margaret Nolan). A catfight orchestrated by Hope provides better newspaper copy than bringing a donkey off the beach which, despite the bucket and spade of hotel employee William (Jack Douglas), ruins the plush carpets. Augusta's son, press photographer Larry (Robin Askwith), is hired to document the donkey stunt and snaps the catfight that has the Mayor losing his trousers, then gulps his way through a nude photo shoot with Dawn. The Mayor's wife, Mildred (Patsy Rowlands), joins Prodworthy's bra-burning movement and plots the downfall of the Miss Fircombe contest on the pier. Peter Potter reluctantly becomes a man in a frock for another publicity gimmick for the television show Women's Things, presented by Cecil Gaybody (Jimmy Logan) and produced by Debra (Sally Geeson). Prodworthy and butch feminist Rosemary (Patricia Franklin) call in the police (David Lodge and Billy Cornelius) to investigate the male pageant contestant but Peter's previously prim girlfriend, Paula (Valerie Leon), has a makeover and turns out to be very buxom and glamorous. and steps into the breach as the mysterious girl. Prodworthy's gang put "Operation Spoilsport" into action, sabotaging the final contest with water, mud and itching powder. With an angry mob after his blood, Sidney makes his escape with Hope on her motorcycle.