Carry On Camping: Trailer for 1969 comedy film
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It remains an iconic moment in British cinema, the perfect representation of a film franchise that released thirty films across twenty years. At its height, the Carry On series made major stars of everyone from Sid James and Kenneth Williams to Hattie Jacques – but one diminutive firecracker with a big laugh became an instant sensation when her bikini top flew across the screen. Windsor may have already had BAFTA and Tony Award nominations under her belt, but Carry On Camping established her as a household name and favourite for the rest of her life. AS ITV3 show Carry On marathons across the entire Bank Holiday weekend, watch the actress recall her most infamous scene and how she really felt about it at the time – and later.
The year before she made her franchise debut in 1964’s Carry On Spying, Windsor received a Best Actress BAFTA nomination for the Cockney kitchen sink comedy-drama Sparrows Can’t Sing, followed by a Tony Award nod on Broadway for Oh, What A Lovely War.
Carry On Doctor followed before Windsor and the gang went Camping in 1969. Her cackling laugh and irrepressible personality as “blonde and bouncy finishing school lass Babs” shone out even before her infamous topless scene raised eyebrows and belly laughs as a horrified Kenneth Williams spluttered “Ooo, matron, take them away.”.
Windsor gave a candid and revealing interview about the film at the Bradford International Film Festival where she received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
They may have been huge stars of the day, but Windsor confirmed the leading male actors were paid £5,000, while the women started on £2,000 which was raised by £500 as the franchise grew in popularity.
Windsor said: “It paid the rent. Most of the people were theatre actors, so we would be doing theatre at night and that’s how we made up the pennies.”
The lack of glamour extended to the filming conditions where there were no toilets and no lunch was provided and they had “schlep back to Pinewood” while the producer “sat in his Rolls Royce.”: “We made all those films in the winter. It was pouring with rain. They would never go on location. They got a field in the back so they didn’t have to pay Pinewood Studios. They painted the ground green. They put leaves on the trees.”
And then it came time to shoot Windsor’s cheeky topless reveal.
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She recalled: “I was so terrified. When I saw it in the cinema I went, ‘Oh my God.’… You weren’t allowed to show your boobs, it was very strict. (Before filming) I thought, ‘Oh God, someone’s going to see my boobs’ So they got someone who had been in the business for years and seen it all, in his seventies, he was going to retire…
“They got the fishing rod and put it there and he (the prop man) had to pull it. Of course, it didn’t come off. I went right down into the mud.”
The actress describe how it only got worse from there: “These were the very words, I swear to God…”
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She told the audience: “These were the exact words; ‘Pick her up. Rub her down, get the mud off. We have to go again.’ Not sorry Barb, sorry darling.
Unfortunately, the next time she accidentally revealed far more than intended and there was a furious cry from the director, Gerald Thomas, “You’ve gone and shown your right t*t. The censor won’t pass that. We’ll have to do it again.”
Windsor added: “So I did it three times and the third one was perfect.”
When they went to the censor to get the scene passed, they were shocked by his response.
The producers had prepared two versions, fearing the topless one would not pass.
Windsor said: “When they took it to the censor, John Trevellyan, he said, ‘Well, I don’t think Miss Windsor’s right boob is going to corrupt the nation, I’ll pass it.’
“So that’s how I got famous for that.”
Asked whether she minded still being famous for that scene, if she was happy about it, the star said: “Yeah. Well, I’d rather have me skipping and tap dancing in The Boyfriend by Ken Russell. Nobody could do it, all these wonderful dancers and I was the only one…”
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