Brian Osborne

Brian Osborne: 

† 1940 – July 8 2021*

Even among the staunchest of enthusiasts, the later 'Carry On' films are generally held in lower regard than the early and mid-period examples, which in some ways is a shame as the supporting cast of the '70s films often had some great character actors of the period. An example of this is the redoubtable Brian Osborne, who had already gathered a few modest credits in TV shows such as 'Softly Softly' and  'Redcap' before he appears as an ambulance driver in 'Carry On Matron' (1972). He can also be seen in 'Carry On Abroad' (1972),  'Carry On Girls' (1973), 'Carry On Dick' (1974),  'Carry On Behind' (1975) and 'Carry On England' (1976). He was also a regular in the same period's generally unfunny TV spin-off 'Carry On Laughing'.     

Vendor of the notorious love potion liqueur in
'Carry On Abroad' (1972) 

This raised profile may well have led to an increasing number of TV roles in the early '70s, in such popular fare as 'Follyfoot', 'Pardon My Genie', 'Some Mothers Do Ave Em' and, more substantially, 'Upstairs Downstairs' in which he played Pearce the chauffeur.   

The latter '70s saw appearances in 'Space:1999', 'Are You Being Served?', 'The Sandbaggers' and 'Secret Army', but perhaps surprisingly not 'The Sweeney' or 'The Professionals'.

In the film version of the popular TV series 'Bless This
House' (1972), here with Robin Askwith in the role of Mike

In 'Space:1999', and about to fall victim to some 
floral foul play by the young lady with her alien plant    

During the '80s you might have spotted Brian Osborne in 'Moonfleet', 'Minder', 'Shine On Harvey Moon', 'Juliet Bravo', 'Sorry!' and 'A Dorothy L Sayers Mystery: Have His Carcase', while the '90s offered the likes of 'London's Burning' and 'The Bill'.  

In the excellent BBC production of the Dorothy L
Sayers mystery 'Have His Carcase' from 1987  

Beyond his 'Carry On' shenanigans, he does appear in a few big screen productions, including 'Women In Love (1969), 'Under Milk Wood' (1971), 'Bless This House' (1972), Nighthawks (1981), 'Haunters Of The Deep' (1984) and 'Last Orders' (2001). It seems that he hasn't been in anything since 2003, so I hope he is enjoying a happy retirement.  

* (Edit 21/7/21: I'm sad to learn that Brian Osborne has died, in the Canary Islands, aged 81,  just a couple of days before I published this little salute.)

Brian Osborne-imdb

David Rowlands

David Rowlands: 

David Rowlands, with his shock of hair and strong features, pops up fairly regularly in Brit TV of the '70s and 80s, and reminds me a little (and in a good way) of Don Martin's cartoon characters from Mad Magazine.  

Rowlands' stock in trade is mainly characters from the politer end of English society: vicars, vaguely aristocratic and upper middle-class types, military officers, doctors, the occasional scientist and the nicer sort of policeman.  

Enjoying classic billing as the 'man with big bra' in 'Are
You Being Served?', facing the daunting Mrs Slocombe.

He first starts to make appearances in the mid-60s in a fairly even mix of dramas and comedy/variety output, but throughtout his career there is a strong tilt to the comedic side. He can be seen in a lot of mainstream sitcoms, on ITV in the channel's finest comedy 'Rising Damp', and its lesser brethren: 'Bless This House', 'On The Buses', 'Father Dear Father', and Love Thy Neighbour'. Over on the BBC, he crops up in such stalwart midweek fare as 'Are You Being Served?', 'Terry & June', 'Citizen Smith' and 'Allo Allo'. He also remained in demand for sketch and variety shows such as 'The Dawson Watch', 'The Two Ronnies', 'Cannon & Ball', 'Kelly Monteith' and 'Mike Yarwood In Persons'.         

Capturing the Abbot family nuptials in the film
spin-off of Bless This House (1972)

Some of the comedy productions he appeared in are now considered classics, witness the likes of 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin', 'The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy', and 'Blott On The Landscape'. He's also got a decent role in the Tom Baker-era 'Doctor Who' adventure, 'The Sun Makers' as an inquisitive intellectual in a world of human slave-drones, earning a whole bag of jelly babies for his assistance in defeating a dastardly Henry Woolf. 

As Bisham in the 1977 'Doctor Who' story 'The Sun Makers'

In the field of more heavyweight drama, he can be spotted in 'Take Three Girls' (and the '80s revisit, 'Take Three Women'), the Boer War saga 'The Regiment', Dennis Potter's 'Pennies From Heaven', and that bizarre ancient-world pot-boiler 'The Cleopatras'.   

As one of the useless Golgafrinchans, sent off into space by
their planet and destined to become the ancestors of humanity,
in the 1981 BBC adaptation of 'Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy'

He's in a very few feature films: the big-screen versions of 'On The Buses' (1971), 'Mutiny On The Buses' (1972) and 'Bless This House' (1972), the Ian Hendry thriller 'Assassin (1973) and the so-bad-it's-all-right-I-suppose comedy horror 'Vampira'/AKA 'Old Dracula' (1974) with David Niven hamming it up as the count. 

In the very silly British horror comedy 'Vampira' (1974)

 David Rowlands-imdb

Sally Geeson

Sally Geeson:

Ah yes. The almost impossibly pert Sally Geeson, always giving Sid James attacks of fatherly apoplexy in 'Bless This House' with her mini skirts and innocent entendres. Perhaps of all the dolly-bird era stars, Sally Geeson has most consciously elected to preserve her image in amber, having vanished from our screens in 1976.   

In 'Man In A Suitcase'

The younger sister of Judy Geeson, she was in three Carry On films - although just a nameless extra in Carry On Regardless (1963) - being more memorable in 'Carry On Girls' (1974) and 'Carry On Abroad' (1972), two of the coarser late efforts in which she shines as the wholesome variety of 'crumpet'. I can hardly bring myself to recall the dreadful Norman Wisdom vehicle 'What's Good for the Goose' (1967), with the middle-aged star as a supposedly urbane married businessman who is drawn into the 'bewildering amoral world of free love'. The period detail is interesting - including R&B wildmen The Pretty Things in a club scene - but you still expect him to start shouting 'Mr Grimsdale!' despite the ponderous soul-searching and Carnaby Street clobber. Hats off to Miss Geeson for her gleeful performance in the face of such a challenge. And while we're on the subject of horrors, she also appears in 'The Oblong Box' (1969) and more fleetingly in 'The Cry of the Banshee' (1970), both featuring Vincent Price.     

One of the excruciating bedroom scenes in the painfully awkward Norman Wisdom
meets Swinging London comedy 'What's Good for the Goose' (1967)

As the rather reckless maid in 'The Oblong Box (1969)

On the small screen, it's mostly sunny smiles and hot pants to the fore in 'Bless This House', after a few roles in things like 'Man In A Suitcase', The Strange Report' 'Z-Cars', and 'Softly, Softly'.  She still looks lovely and, according to her website, she's planning a comeback - hopefully something even more substantial than her current role as the face of Anglian Home Improvements. Let's hope so.    

A sweet young thing in 'The Strange Report'

Sally Geeson-imdb

Gay Soper

Gay Soper:

Multi-talented actress and singer Gay Soper is a doyenne of the musical theatre, but has a few interesting points of contact with British TV and film. Her stage career includes the original London production of 'Godspell' with David Essex, Julie Covington, Marti Webb and Jeremy Irons, and playing Mme Thenardier in 'Les Miserables' on the West End.

As Janice, the short-sighted barmaid in 'Bless This House'

Eee, it's 'The Flumps'. Oh Pootle, you are silly.

On TV, she can be seen in the later series of 'Romany Jones', when the writers brought in a posh neighbour couple in place of the late James Beck. Played by Gay Soper and Jonathan Cecil, they provided the comic contrast to rough-and-ready Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts, with city clerk Cecil bringing in a measly £22 a week and Mullard on five times as much as a manual labourer with a few scams on the side.

Jonathan Cecil seems less keen on leaving his mother's house
for the romantic caravan lifestyle, in 'Romany Jones'.

She also appears in several sitcoms: 'Bless This House', 'Never The Twain', and she co-starred in 'Rude Health' as the wife of put-upon GP John Wells. But perhaps her most lasting claim to television fame came with her narration and singing for the tiny tot series 'The Flumps', about a family of fuzzy Yorkshire gonks living in a desolate moorland cottage.

With John Wells in Channel 4's 'Rude Health'

Movie-wise, there's not too much to report, although she does get to do a striptease for Dickie Attenborough and get spanked by Bob Todd in 'The Ups and Downs of a Handyman' (1976) which starred her then-husband, Barry Stokes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither it, nor the X-rated 'Love is a Splendid Illusion' (1970), gets a mention on her website.  

Gay Soper-imdb