The Carry On title prefix might not mean very much to U.S. audiences. For British people, though, it represents the most successful comedy series in U.K. cinema, numbering 31 ribald and outlandish films released over the course of more than three decades, beginning with Carry On Sergeant in 1958 and ending with Carry On Columbus in 1992. A quarter-century later, the long-running series will be returning to movie screens, with a whole new slate of Carry On films beginning in 2017, Variety reports. Carry On Doctors—in which lunacy and sexual innuendo flares up in a hospital (a popular setting for the series)—will be written by Tim Dawson and Susan Nickson, writers for the popular BBC Three sitcom Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps.
“I’m thrilled to be involved in perhaps the biggest comedy franchise in Britain,” Nickson said in a statement. “I grew up watching these films and to be working on this project feels like coming home. They’re peculiarly British but the appeal of the humor and the ever-present message that good people always win is absolutely global.” The original films featured a large ensemble of British comedians, led by Kenneth Williams and Sid James, often in some state of undress as the preposterous plot unwinds around them. The rebooted series will strive to recreate zany, irreverent spirit of those comedies, according to Hereford Films’ Jonathan Sothcott.
“Carry On is a national treasure: the most successful British comedy film series of all time,” Sothcott said. “We are making a new entry in the series with love and care: it isn’t a remake or an attempt to reinvent the wheel. We won’t be trying to find new Sids or Kenneths, we’re looking to create a whole new ensemble of brilliant British comedic actors. No stunt casting. No big American stars. This will be British film at its best, as the truly remarkable heritage deserves.”