Carry On Doctor (Who)
Watch Carry On Sergeant today, and you might start wondering if it's a Carry On film at all! For one thing, this black-and-white 1958 classic stars such non-regulars as Bob Monkhouse and William Hartnell (who'd go onto be the first Doctor Who!).

On top of that, there's a shocking lack of smutty jokes. This is because the film was originally supposed to be a straight adaptation of a serious play called The Bull Boys. It only morphed into a comedy after the director and screenwriter decided it would be more fun to play it for laughs (thank goodness).

Us modern fans might also wonder where on earth Sid James is. Well, the man who is arguably the "face" of Carry On didn't actually turn up until Carry On Constable, the fourth film in the series.

The other regular
Think of the Carry On team and names like Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques spring to mind. But none of them was involved in every single Carry On film. Only one regular has that honour, and he was Gerald Thomas, the director.

This unsung hero of the series actually trained as a doctor before entering the film industry to work with cinematic giants like Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles. Having helped make such serious classics as Hamlet and The Third Man, Gerald took an unexpected turn into comedy with Carry on Sergeant, and devoted himself to great British silliness all the way to Carry on Columbus.

"We've all been at it together so long that I find myself less and less having to direct," the late, great man once said. "I just crack a whip and everyone goes through their paces." Oo er!

Infamy! Infamy!
When it comes to selecting the best ever Carry On, most hardcore fans are torn between Camping and Cleo. But making the latter landed the gang into a heap of trouble.

A saucy parody of Cleopatra (the pompous Elizabeth Taylor epic that had come out a year earlier), Carry on Cleo was actually filmed on the sets leftover from the original film. Sid James even helped himself to Richard Burton's costume.

The makers of Cleopatra weren't amused - and the final straw was when they saw how similar the poster for Carry on Cleo was to the one for Cleopatra. They managed to successfully sue for copyright infringement.

Poor Gerald Thomas probably started thinking they all had it in for him, as Marks and Spencer also kicked up a fuss. The reason? Two of the characters in Carry on Cleo are called Marcus and Spencius.

Luckily, they decided not to sue after Gerald Thomas convinced them it was all meant in good fun.

Camping it up
Since they never had a big budget to play with, the Carry On team relied on sheer ingenuity to get their classics made. And they were particularly brilliant when it came to Carry on Camping.

Though the film is set it in summer, it was actually a rather dreary autumn when Gerald and the gang started filming. As they couldn't afford to jet off to a better location, they actually resorted to painting the autumn leaves green and glueing them back onto the trees!

The wet mud also made some scenes rather tricky. The famous bit where Babs's bra shoots off her boobs took several takes to get right, mainly because she kept falling over into the mud. (A fishing rod was used to whisk the bra through the air - who says you need lots of money for great special effects?)

Carry On to the future?
Have you heard of Carry On London? Possibly not, as it's the greatest Carry On that never was.

Not a single scene had been filmed when a huge party announcing Carry On London took place in 2003. Rather bizarrely, the party was held at the House of Commons (!) and was hosted by the Conservative Party (!!).

A promotional poster was even released for the unmade film, featuring Daniella Westbrook wearing Barbara Windsor's famous love-heart bikini.