Carry On Nurse

Carry On Nurse
Original UK quad poster
Directed by	Gerald Thomas
Produced by	Peter Rogers
Written by	Norman Hudis
Starring	Shirley Eaton Kenneth Connor Charles Hawtrey Hattie Jacques Terence Longdon Bill Owen Leslie Phillips Joan Sims Susan Stephen Kenneth Williams Wilfrid Hyde-White Rosalind Knight
Music by	Bruce Montgomery
Cinematography	Reginald Dwyer
Edited by	John Shirley
Distributed by	Anglo-Amalgamated
Release date	March 1959
Running time	86 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£71,000
Box office	$1.5 million

Carry On Nurse is the second in the series of Carry On films with 31 entries. It was released in 1959. Of the regular team, it featured Joan Sims (in her Carry On film debut), Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey, with Hattie Jacques and Leslie Phillips. The film was written by Norman Hudis based on the play Ring for Catty by Patrick Cargill and Jack Beale. It was the top-grossing film of 1959 in the UK and, with an audience of 10.4 million, had the highest cinema viewing of any of the "Carry On" films. Perhaps surprisingly, it was also highly successful in the US, where it was reported that it played at some cinemas for three years.

The journalist Ted York (Terence Longdon) is rushed to Haven Hospital with appendicitis. The ambulance gets there at top speed, but only because the driver wants to know the result of a horse race. Ted is given a bed and is instantly smitten with Nurse Denton (Shirley Eaton). The other nurses are incessantly having to respond to the calls of the Colonel (Wilfrid Hyde-White), who has a private room. He is an inveterate gambler and is having his bets placed by Mick (Harry Locke), the orderly.

That evening, the boxer Bernie Bishop (Kenneth Connor) is admitted after hurting his hand at the end of a bout. The next day, the Sister (Joan Hickson) galvanises the nurses, orderly and patients for the inspection by Matron (Hattie Jacques). As usual, she is let down by Nurse Dawson (Joan Sims), a clumsy probationer. Matron checks on the progress of the patients, and speaks to Mr Hinton (Charles Hawtrey), who is forever listening to the radio with his headphones. Mick and the Colonel bet on how long the Matron will take on her rounds.