Cor, Blimey!

Cor, Blimey! was a one off TV movie broadcast on ITV in 2000 following the lives of Sid James (played by Geoffrey Hutchings), Barbara Windsor (played by Samantha Spiro) and Kenneth Williams (played by Adam Godley) and was adapted from the 1998 play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick.

Plot

Cor, Blimey! starts with the arrival of Sid James's new wardrobe assistant at the set of Carry on Cleo at Pinewood Studios. The audience is introduced to Sid James, portrayed as a gambling womaniser, and Kenneth Williams. The two men are depicted as bitter rivals with a genuine antipathy for each other.

Barbara Windsor is at Pinewood Studios to dub one of her scenes in Carry On Spying. Sid James meets her and immediately falls for her, although it is seen by everyone else, including Barbara, as just infatuation, not real love.

Sid continues to pursue Barbara, and keep an eye on her during the infamous flying bikini top scene in Carry On Camping. Sid becomes obsessed with her while on location for Carry On Girls. During the shoot Barbara decides to let Sid have one night of passion with her, which Sid accepts. Barbara suggested it believing that once he had slept with her Sid would lose interest in her. However, the two end up having a long term affair.

By 1976 the affair is over and a few months later, Sid dies at the age of 62, following a heart attack on stage on the opening night of The Mating Season at the Sunderland Empire Theatre.

The drama ends with Kenneth Williams reassuring Barbara Windsor that Sid's death was not her fault and Barbara attempting to encourage Kenneth to enjoy life more. For the final scene only Windsor replaces Spiro to play herself.

Basis in reality

The drama is a fictionalised account of the affair which happened between Windsor and James^[1]. It also depicts other Carry On actors, Bernard Bresslaw, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims as minor characters. The action covers the period from 1964 to the pre-production of Carry on Emmannuelle after Sid James' death on stage in 1976. However, events are not necessarily depicted in chronological order.

Carry On films featured

Scenes depicting the production of the following Carry On films are featured in Cor, Blimey! The films are listed in the order in which they appear in the drama rather than in the order in which they were made and released in reality.

• Carry On Spying, depicted as being in post-production while Carry On Cleo is in production.
• Carry On Cleo
• Carry On Camping
• Carry On Girls
• Carry On Henry
• Carry On Dick
• Carry On Emmannuelle, depicted as being in pre-production, filming not yet having begun.

References

1. ^ "Barbara Windsor - Biography on Bio". Thebiographychannel.co.uk. http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1280:1453/1/Barbara_Windsor.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 

External links

• Cor, Blimey! at the Internet Movie Database