| Director: | Terry Johnson |
| Starring: | Geoffrey Hutchings Samantha Spiro Adam Godley |
| Theme Music Composer: | Barrington Pheloung |
| Producer: | Margaret Mitchell |
| Editor: | Martin Sharpe |
| Cinematography: | Paul Wheeler |
| Runtime: | 108 minutes |
| Company: | Company Television |
| Network: | ITV |
Cor, Blimey! is a 2000 TV film that follows the relationship between Carry On film actors Sid James (played by Geoffrey Hutchings) and Barbara Windsor (played by Samantha Spiro).
The film, first broadcast on ITV on 24 April 2000, was adapted by Terry Johnson from his stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick which debuted at the Royal National Theatre in 1998.[1]
Cor, Blimey! starts with the arrival of Sid James's new wardrobe assistant on the set of Carry On Cleo, at Pinewood Studios in 1963. Sid is depicted as a gambling womaniser with antipathy toward his professional rival, actor Kenneth Williams (played by Adam Godley).
James meets actress Barbara Windsor, who is at Pinewood to dub one of her scenes in Carry On Spying, and immediately falls for her; everyone, including Windsor, assumes he is just infatuated with her.
James pursues Windsor, keeping an eye on her during the famous flying-bikini-top scene in Carry On Camping. In 1973, he becomes obsessed with her while on location for Carry On Girls, and Windsor decides to sleep with him once, assuming that he would then lose interest; however, the two end up having a long affair.
By 1976, the affair is over; a few months later, James dies at the age of 62, after having a heart attack on stage during the opening night of The Mating Season at the Sunderland Empire Theatre.
The drama ends with Kenneth Williams reassuring Windsor that James's death was not her fault and Windsor encouraging the melancholic Williams to enjoy life more. For the final scene, Windsor replaced Spiro and played herself.
Geoffrey Hutchings found it difficult to play Sid James because there was little archive material of James as himself. The actor used James' distinctive "guttural laugh" as a "way in" to the character.[2] Samantha Spiro "felt a sense of responsibility" playing Barbara Windsor, who appears as herself in the final scene.[2]
The drama is a fictionalised account of the affair which happened between Windsor and James.[3] Fellow Carry On actors Bernard Bresslaw, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims are seen as minor characters.
The action covers the period from 1964 until Sid James' death on stage in 1976. However, events are not necessarily depicted in chronological order and a few liberties are taken with continuity. For example:
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on, with a weighted average rating of 3.5/5.[4]
Mark Lawson, writing for The Guardian, complimented Johnson's adaptation. He writes, "bringing the Carry On movies to television via the stage is his most complicated mixed-media installation yet, but it succeeds triumphantly ... Johnson understands how differently material needs to be shaped for theatre's rectangle of open air and television's oblong of glass." He praises the "depth and intelligence of Johnson's script."[5] Lawson also praises Hutchings, Spiro and Godley's portrayals of James, Windsor and Williams respectively.