Amanda Barrie

"We didn't worry about a few dirty laughs!" The Carry On women on playing nags, bra-burners and 'crumpet'

No one could say that the Carry On movies stretched their female stars, or paid them generously. But, decades later, Amanda Barrie, Valerie Leon, Sheila Hancock and co have fond memories.

There's no running out of old people, and seemingly no running out of shows that find some fleetingly entertaining formats to feature them (if not exactly to cater for them). In this one, game seventysomethings in the public eye such as Stanley Johnson and Eve Pollard share their thoughts on ageing and get stuck into some fish-out-of-water challenges. Tonight, Eve takes a shift in B&Q, while Amanda Barrie and Kenny Lynch run a B&B.

Debut of a new series that claims to illuminate a new demographic phenomenon - the fact that post-65 retirement is now often measured in decades rather than years - but which is mostly a reality show. The conceit is that well-known personages - among them Edwina Currie, Kenny Lynch and Esther Rantzen - will explore different aspects of later life. Tonight, it's love, with Henry Blofeld and Amanda Barrie running a dating agency.

The chirpy team knocked out this cheeky response to Joseph L Mankiewicz's Egyptian epic, Cleopatra, in no time: a garden-shed version of the pyramids. Sid James is Mark Antony, Amanda Barrie the Queen of the Nile, and with Kenneth Williams Julius Caesar - who utters the immortal: "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!" - this ranks as one of yer classic Carry Ons.

Radio Times review

If you have a favourite Carry On, the chances are it features in this edition. Episode one covered the film series's faltering early steps, up to Carry On Jack. Now we're wading into the golden period, the mid-to late 60s, with genre spoofs Carry On Spying, Cleo, Cowboy and Screaming.

Barbara Windsor is starkly absent from this affectionate celebration, but her co-stars Jim Dale, Amanda Barrie and Julian Holloway reminisce with joy. The extraordinary Fenella Fielding returns to a former haunt used in Screaming, Anita Harris revisits Follow That Camel's Saharan location (Camber Sands), while Angela Douglas is taken Up the Khyber (Snowdon). There's also a lovely tribute to Hattie Jacques and rare behind-the-scenes footage of Sid James and Kenneth Williams at work.

Amanda Barrie: Benidorm is like the modern Carry On

Amanda Barrie has said ITV comedy Benidorm is the modern-day equivalent to the Carry On films.