Carry On Matron is one of the best of the Carry On movies and I first saw this when I was quite young.

A gang of crooks are after a load of pills and try to get them from Finisham Matarnity Hospital. One of the gang dresses up as a woman nurse but still fails to succeed. They get them towards the end but most of the hospital's staff and patients stop them. Also, the Matron and Sir Bernard Cutting are married at the end.

Most of the Carry On gang are in this, including Hattie Jacques in the title role, Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, Babs Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Kenneth Conner and Terry Scott. This also stars Kenneth Cope, Bill Maynard (Heartbeat) and a young Wendy Richard, who of course now stars alongside Babs in EastEnders. Excellent stuff from all.

Have a laugh with Carry On Matron. Very funny.

Ratinf: 3 stars out of 5.

I love most of the Carry on films, especially Cleo, Up the Khyber and my favourite Screaming. And I do admit I prefer in general the earlier entries, which had more fun and charm in alternative to the later entries some of which had an over-reliance on smut.

Carry on Matron may have some slow-moving scenes and a thin and predictable plot, with some odd moments of overly-smutty innuendos and crude slapstick. But thanks to the witty gags, sharp script and fun performances, even with its shortcomings it still manages to be one of the better and funnier later entries of the series.

The production values are pleasant, the music is suitably quirky and the direction is solid. What really drives the film are the performances. Hattie Jacques does a fine job in the title role and Charles Hawtrey is as good as ever. The wonderful Kenneth Williams is hilarious and has some of the best lines and scenes, and Sid James plays it straight in a somewhat atypical role. And I mustn't forget the lovely cameos of Kenneth Connor as the nervous dad-to-be and Joan Sims as the overdue mum either.

All in all, an entertaining film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The 23rd film in the Carry On series and the fourth (and last) of the medical themed adventures. Sid Carter (Sid James) leads a gang of thieves who plan to break into Finisham Hospital and steal a load of contraceptive pills to sell abroad. But where are they kept? Sid decides to send his son Cyril (Kenneth Cope) in undercover disguised as a nurse...

They probably seem like cheap gags now, but much mirth is mined from the scenarios set up by a man undercover as a female nurse. Cue him having to share a room with a foxy babe (Babs Windsor), having to fight off the attentions of the randy Doctor Prodd (a brilliant film stealing Terry Scott) and him getting involved with medical issues he has no idea about (yikes this is a maternity hospital!). Elsewhere Joan Simms portrays a human eating machine that is three weeks over due, while her poor railway worker husband (Kenneth Connor great as always) goes insane in the waiting room. Kenneth Williams is the hypochondriac hospital manager and the wonderful Hattie Jacques gets great scenes in a film thats title and script acknowledges her work in the medical Carry On films.

Briskly paced by the ever reliable Gerald Thomas, "Matron" is one of the more likable and funny Carry On entries of the 70s. 7.5/10