When a top secret chemical formula is stolen by STENCH (the Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans), secret agent Simpkins is placed on the case along with three similarly incompetent (but very entertaining) trainees.

Carry On Spying is a seminal entry in the series as this is the first movie starring someone who would become synonymous with the series and a bona fide national treasure to boot- Barbara Windsor. And she hits the ground running as Daphne Honeybutt (code name Brown Cow).

I love that the secret agents are made up of Kenneth Williams (basically recreating his Snide character), Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Cribbins as well as Windsor.

Carry On Spying is a parody of the burgeoning James Bond genre (Hawtrey’s characters code name was to be 006 and a half but was changed to 000 after the makers of the Bond films threatened legal action) and also The Third Man (Williams starred in Orson Welles’ production of Moby Dick years before).

There are some great action sequences such as the train chase. There are also some magnificently surreal scenes. You haven’t experienced cinema to it’s fullest until you’ve seen Bernard Cribbins dressed as a haram worker being chased around by an agent nicknamed Fat Man. Or the scene featuring Jim Dale in drag.

In the words of Kenneth Williams, Carry On Spying is ‘a riot!’

4 out of 5 stars