The "Carry On" team made a quartet of Christmas specials between the end of the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s. However, while this includes two stalwarts of the series (Sid James and Kenneth Connor), it is unrelated to them or, indeed, the general style of their vulgar brand of anything-goes comedy – being essentially tamer and less anarchic!
Even so, we start off with the best gag of all – a spacemen (complete with Strauss' music strains from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY {1968}!) comes off the moon and onto a busy London street, even riding home in a bus (obviously, he had only been guesting at a kids' Christmas party but somehow never got around to removing his costume)! Behind it, of course, is James, henpecked as usual but with an eye on the "birds". He has a couple of teen girls himself, one of whom is expected to give birth any minute and, being Christmas and all, he is left in charge of her until his wife goes to do some last-minute shopping!
Connor is his even more submissive neighbor and best pal who, while more a hindrance than help to James' schemes, relies himself completely on the other's seeming worldiness: in this case, he wants his opinion on a negligee (a present Connor intends giving his wife) which, naturally, results in the two trying on a couple of samples!; incidentally, Connor's wife has her eye on James too but, once she sees what hubby has got her, she gets in the mood to settle down with him for the night!
Anyway, when the baby is due and the girl is rushed to hospital, James is asked, first, to pick up the father from the train station (a drunken soldier!) and also entertain his doddering and snobbish parents while the rest are making a hospital visit. The finale has them being gotten drunk – and uninhibited – with an old bottle of port and the entire cast wishing us all a "Merry Christmas"; in the end, while not up to the "Carry On" standards, the program still provides almost an hour's worth of mild light entertainment ideal for this time of year.
Even so, we start off with the best gag of all – a spacemen (complete with Strauss' music strains from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY {1968}!) comes off the moon and onto a busy London street, even riding home in a bus (obviously, he had only been guesting at a kids' Christmas party but somehow never got around to removing his costume)! Behind it, of course, is James, henpecked as usual but with an eye on the "birds". He has a couple of teen girls himself, one of whom is expected to give birth any minute and, being Christmas and all, he is left in charge of her until his wife goes to do some last-minute shopping!
Connor is his even more submissive neighbor and best pal who, while more a hindrance than help to James' schemes, relies himself completely on the other's seeming worldiness: in this case, he wants his opinion on a negligee (a present Connor intends giving his wife) which, naturally, results in the two trying on a couple of samples!; incidentally, Connor's wife has her eye on James too but, once she sees what hubby has got her, she gets in the mood to settle down with him for the night!
Anyway, when the baby is due and the girl is rushed to hospital, James is asked, first, to pick up the father from the train station (a drunken soldier!) and also entertain his doddering and snobbish parents while the rest are making a hospital visit. The finale has them being gotten drunk – and uninhibited – with an old bottle of port and the entire cast wishing us all a "Merry Christmas"; in the end, while not up to the "Carry On" standards, the program still provides almost an hour's worth of mild light entertainment ideal for this time of year.
