I predict Jason will carry on regardless
I DON’T claim to have psychic powers, but I’m going to make a prediction that has a 99.9% chance of coming true.
Over the August Bank Holiday, ITV 2, 3, or 4 will be showing back-to-back Carry On films across the Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
I’m confident it will come to pass because ITV have been doing this on Bank Holidays for many years as they own the rights to the films made by the Rank Organisation from the late 1960s.
There’s always been talk about reviving the series and one script, Carry On London, has passed through the hands of several different writers since the late 1990s, with Shane Richie mentioned as a possible star.
But potential backers were possibly put off by the spectre of the disastrous 1992 attempt to bring the series back – Carry On Columbus, a film described as “the worst British film of all time”!
Yes! Worse than The Sex Lives Of The Potato Men, which Johnny Vegas has probably deleted from his CV!
But now producer Brian Baker has paid £500,000 to ITV so he can sell Carry On merchandise and use his earnings to make a brand new Carry On film. Hmm . . .
I like the Carry On “costume” films like “Up The Khyber” and “Cowboy”, which still look good, but many of the contemporary titles, like “Girls” and “Again Doctor” look really cheap (which of course they were).
The colour photography is insipid and badly lit, and Sid James’s suits look like they were bought for a tenner in a closing-down sale at John Collier. I wish Mr Baker well with his project, but on the other hand I’d guess one person who won’t be eager to see a new Carry On is TV and radio presenter Jason Mohammad.
You may remember when speaking to writer and Carry On expert Robert Ross on his Radio Wales show, Jason repeated “They’re just smut!” so many times that Robert, quite rightly, put the phone down on him.
Still, as he’s reportedly earning £355,000 a year, I’m sure Jason has been able to “Carry On Regardless!”