Peter Rogers, the producer and creator of the much-loved **Carry On… **series of films, has died. He was 95.
Rogers, who died at his home in Buckinghamshire on Tuesday, following a short illness, was the brains behind all 31 instalments of the hugely popular British comedy franchise, from Carry On Sergeant in 1958, right through to the final Carry On, 1992’s Carry On Columbus, which he executive produced.
Rogers, who was born on February 20, 1914, started his career as a journalist, before becoming a screenwriter for J. Arthur Rank. From there, he quickly moved into producing, turning a serious script called The Bull Boys into a jolly comedy called Carry On Sergeant, which starred a young Bob Monkhouse and **Carry On **regulars Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey.
Critically derided, the film was nonetheless a success, and so Rogers started work on **Carry On Nurse **almost immediately. From there, an increasingly risqué and ribald formula was created, during which the Carry Ons – from Teacher to Screaming to Don’t Lose Your Head to Up The Khyber and so on - became incredibly popular.
Rogers, and his regular director Gerald Thomas, cranked them out, sometimes at a pace of three a year, with filming rarely straying far from the series’ Pinewood Studios base, where Rogers maintained an office until as recently as last year. Gradually, though, the series’ popularity waned, with the ‘last’ - **Carry On Emmannuelle **– coming in 1978, before the brief revival with Columbus.
Nevertheless, although the Carry On films veered wildly in tone and quality, they’re an iconic, highly influential and much-loved cornerstone of British film history now. Rogers’ part in making that happen can never be overstated.
Rogers was married to Betty Box, a producer on another popular British comedy series, the Doctor… films. She died in 1999.