Carry On Camping

Plot

Sid Boggle (Sid James) and his friend Bernie Lugg (Bernard Bresslaw) are partners in a plumbing business. They take their girlfriends, the prudish Joan Fussey (Joan Sims) and meek Anthea Meeks (Dilys Laye), to the cinema to see a film about a nudist camp called Paradise. Sid has the idea of the foursome holidaying there, reasoning that in the environment their heretofore chaste girlfriends will relax their strict moral standards. Sid easily gains Bernie's co-operation in the scheme, which they bravely attempt to keep secret from the girls.

They travel to the campsite named Paradise. After paying the membership fees to the owner, money-grabbing farmer Josh Fiddler (Peter Butterworth), Sid realises it is not the camp seen in the film, but merely a standard family campsite. Furthermore, it is not a paradise: but a damp field with the only facilities being a very basic toilet, and washing block. They reluctantly agree to stay after Fiddler refuses a refund and the girls approve of the place. There is further disappointment when the girls will not share a tent with the boys.

Sid and Bernie soon set their sights on a bunch of young ladies on holiday from the Chayste Place finishing school. The ringleader of the girls is blonde and bouncy Babs (Barbara Windsor). In charge of the girls is Dr. Soaper (Kenneth Williams), who is fervently pursued by his lovelorn colleague, the school's matron, Miss Haggard (Hattie Jacques). The girls soon leave for Ballsworth Youth Hostel, where Babs and her friend Fanny change the room numbers on Dr. Soaper's and Miss Haggard's doors and convince Dr. Soaper that the female washroom is the male washroom, which is where Miss Haggard is. During an outdoor aerobics session led by Dr Soaper, Babs' bikini top flies off and is caught by Dr. Soaper.

Other campers are Peter Potter (Terry Scott), who hates camping but must endure a jolly yet domineering wife Harriet (Betty Marsden), who has a hideous braying cackle and naive first-time camper Charlie Muggins (Charles Hawtrey).

Chaos ensues when a group of hippies arrive in the next field for a noisy all-night rave led by band The Flowerbuds. The campers club together and successfully drive the ravers away, but all the girls leave with them. However, there is a happy ending for Bernie and Sid when their girlfriends finally agree to move into their tent. Their joy is short-lived when Joan's mother turns up, but Anthea lets a goat loose which chases Mrs Fussey away.

Crew

Filming and locations

Interiors:

Exteriors:

Reception

The film was the most popular movie at the UK box office in 1969.