John Chard

Ignorance actually is, in this case, Bliss! As the 1970s began, the Carry On team would continue undaunted by a new decade and a changing of the times, they instead embraced it with innuendo laden open arms - for better and worse as would prove to be the case. "Loving" finds Sid James and Hattie Jaques as a boyfriend and girlfriend couple operating under false pretences as a wedded bliss couple running a computer dating agency. The central theme is that of a number of hapless and lovelorn singletons who hope to get fixed up by the "Bliss Agency", only to find disaster after disaster, mismatch after mismatch, befalling those hoping for Cupid/Eros' arrows to strike. It's all very plot less, a sort of rerun of Carry On Regardless but with the amiable vignettes of that film replaced here with more knowingly bawdy and sexy scenarios. Terry Scott and James have fun as randy old devils, each thrust into a number of awkward situations via angry girlfriends & boyfriends, Kenny Williams gets the best part of the screenplay as a marriage guidance counsellor - and confirmed bachelor - hopelessly out of his depth when push comes to shove (ooh-err), while Jacki Piper and Imogen Hassall positively steam up the screen with underwear and push-up-bra revelations. The 70s would prove to be a troublesome decade for the series, and this does feel like the start of the slide, which is annoying since the rather cheeky and funny Carry On Up the Jungle was also released this same year. There is some value in "Loving", it has Sid and Hattie as a warring couple, which is always fun to be part of, while Williams and Scott throw themselves into their roles - just as Bernard Bresslaw steals scenes as a hulking wrestler miffed at Joan Sims' being the apple of Sid James' eye! But it feels forced and although it has some moments for fans to enjoy, the high points of Carry On Up the Kyber and the box office gold of Carry On Camping would ultimately prove to be nostalgic glances back to the series' better days. 6/10