Were hospitals ever really like this? Nurses are either battle-axes or stocking clad minxs. None of the doctors are fit to be trusted with a scalpel and the patients all seem to have taken up permanent residence.
The latter was probably just as well for Sid James, having suffered a heart attack in real life, a bed-ridden role for the fifteenth film in the series suited him fine.
Dr. Kilmore (Jim Dale – the closest the series came to a male sex symbol) is the dedicated doctor loved by his malingering patients and loathed by the all-seeing Matron and his superior Dr. Tinkle. Their chance to discredit him comes when Kilmore attempts to rescue a barely clothed nurse (Windsor) from the roof of a nursing home. Chaos inevitably ensues, which climaxes with the patients storming the operating theatre.
But the scene-stealing on this occasion is done by guest-starring Frankie Howerd, a quack who mistakenly believes he only has a week to live. He has the bonus of being the one who gets to reference the memorable “ daffodil thermometer” scene from the earlier Carry on Nurse, fending a nurse off with the offending flower with the words, “Oh no you don’t! I saw that film!”