Orgy and Bess

8.45pm - 25th January 1975

"You scintillate"

"I sin after eight as well!"

DVD UK

DVD US

23 min Colour

The Stars
	Sid James Hattie Jacques Kenneth Connor Barbara Windsor Jack Douglas Victor Maddern MacDonald Hobley Brian Osbourne John Carlin Norman Chappell	Sir Francis Drake Queen Elizabeth I King Philip Lady Miranda Essex & Master of the Rolls Todd Quaker Reporter Crew Member Sir Walter Raleigh Lord Burleigh

The Crew
Screenplay Producer Director	Barry Cryer & Dick Vosburgh Gerald Thomas Alan Tarrant

Synopsis

This Carry On celebrates the glories of the Elizabethan court but in terms of the series itself, this show includes the final appearances of Sid James and Hattie Jacques in any of the series, although the pair officially bowed out after Dick.

Hattie is on top form, milking her virginal reputation and sexual frustration for all its worth. Kenneth Connor gets the best of what’s there comedy-wise but he only plays a very small part as the King of Spain, all clicking of heels and spouting Spanish rubbish. He even gets a round of applause when he exits.

Jack Douglas plays two roles giving us a typical Alf-like persona and a quite splendid straight roll as Lord Essex, delivering his lines with dignified relish as he injects moments of treachery, anti-Royal sentiment and even anti-Sid dialogue.

As Sid signs off on the series, he definitely overplays his guffawing laugh, never letting a cheap gag go by (to Hattie – “Hello Bess, getting much?”) and perhaps the best line of the episode: Hattie says “You Scintillate”, to which Sid replies, “I sin after eight as well!”