You are in the Special Features section - Carol Hawkins star of Carry On films and Please Sir!

Carol Hawkins is an actress beauty who came to fame in the phenomenally successful 1970's TV series Please Sir! (which was inspired by the 1960s film To Sir With Love.) Carol played the sexy Sharon, girlfriend of Eric Duffy, and every schoolboy at the time had a big crush on her, including me. The series had some great characters, the bumbling but popular Hedges, the dopey Dennis, cool Duffy, lovestruck Maureen and dolly bird Sharon. The success of this series spawned a further new series about the kids after they had left Fenn Street school called The Fenn Street Gang. 

Carol played Sharon Eversley just right - she was sexy but had strength and humour. In fact, a theme of that show was that the women characters such as Maureen, Deputy Head Doris Ewell and Sharon were the strong ones while most of the men - Frankie Abbott, Hedges, caretaker Potter and Headmaster Cromwell were weak, feeble, dopey or useless!

Carol appeared in a number of comedy roles in the seventies, including two 'Carry Ons', a 'Confessions' movie and an 'Up Pompeii' on the big screen. She appeared with most of the big names of British comedy at that time.

Her Internet Movie Database review describes her as Blonde, beautiful and extremely likeable, and I wouldn't argue with that description. It was as a result of her popularity with the audience and with the producers of Carry on Abroad that she was called back for Carry on Behind. However, the mid-to-late seventies saw a big decline in home-produced films. Thus, Carol was seen mainly from that point on TV in comedy and drama roles, including Porridge, Robin's Nest and The Bill.

For those Cult TV fans amongst you, Carol also appeared as Kerril in an episode of the classic space adventure Blake's 7.

These days, Carol spends some time in Spain but pops back to Britain from time to time and can be seen occasionally happily signing and talking with fans at memorabilia conventions as well as in the sporadic appearance on TV. Carol kindly agreed to chat with Digger at www.retrosellers.com

Carol Hawkins

Carol recently made her first appearance at a collector's convention. It was at the NEC and she says it went very well. Contemporaries Sally Geeson, Jenny Hanley and Shirley Anne Field were all there too, signing and meeting fans. Carol says "I was amazed by the interest. These people knew more about me and my career than I do. At one point, a policeman came up to me and presented me with a huge Carry On poster which already had a number of signatures on it and asked me to sign it also. He asked me to put something on there about policemen. Well, I had a quick think and wrote 'You're a little bit short for a copper, mate', which fortunately he found amusing."

 I ask Carol, about her involvement in the Carry On films and how it felt, once again, to join an established 'ensemble'. "It was fantastic. The 'team' were all generous and professional. Again I was nervous as hell but they helped me settle. There were practically no rehearsals but somehow it all came good. It didn't do for anyone to come into the team and act grand as they'd soon be cut down to size. I wasn't like that anyway, but I did see it happen. I got on very well with Kenneth Williams who was basically a naughty little boy! He had a great brain. He would often give me 'lessons' in what words and phrases meant. He was totally outrageous but, as long as you didn't let him phase you and you gave as good as you got then he was great and would just give a wry smile."

Please Sir!

Carol says she finds it difficult to describe herself, but, when pressed, tells me that she's "a people person with a thirst for information. I'm very private but also love to socialise with people, so I suppose I'm a bit complex. Humane, a great sense of humour, love of nature and of life, a person who tries to be good but occasionally fails in this quest. I am a person who is concerned about the detail. I'm honest - too honest for my own good a lot of the time as I expect other people to be the same as me. Also, because I am so honest I tend to say things that other people wouldn't reveal about themselves and so can shock people or make them laugh."

Carol tells me about her passion. " I have been interested in the psychic and healing for a long time now and in fact that's how I met my husband. We had a number of shops at one time which specialised in the mind, body and spirit - for example, Tarot and healing. I believe that we all have these powers - the sixth sense or ability to predict or help others - they're just more developed in some people. I could write a book on it."  I suggest that she does write a book and she says she might if she gets the time. "I don't subscribe to one religion - I believe in a little of all of them. And I do believe that what goes round comes around." Her psychic passion she describes thus: "It's a living and also a way of life." 

What parts would Carol have liked to have played that she didn't get? "There aren't many. I don't really think like that, to be honest. I suppose I would have liked to have been in Upstairs Downstairs. I did do a spoof of that in one of the Carry Ons." Does Carol see herself as anything like any of the characters she has played? "Well, I'm nothing like Sharon in Please Sir! She had a sexy image whereas I tend to cover-up a bit! I suppose if I was like any of them, it was Mary Smith in Run For Your Wife - she spoke her mind and got cross with the rest of the cast as a result of the farcical misunderstandings. " What make Carol cross? " Abuse to animals. I can't bear it. I have four dogs and love them a lot and can't bear the idea of cruelty to animals." And what makes her laugh? "Dogs, people, myself when I say or do daft things, which is very often!"

Sally Geeson		Kenneth Williams
Roy Kinnear		Ronnie Barker and  Richard Beckinsale

Is Carol nostalgic? "Yes, I am but I also look forward. You have to have a reminder of where you have come from in order to know where you're going." Carol reminisces on her love of Biba, the iconic west London store from the 60s and 70s. "I had pink Biba boots and a whole house kitted-out in Biba lampshades, wallpaper, bedspreads and so on. It was exciting and different and I loved that store and the items they sold." I tell Carol that she should have held on to her Biba items, even the empty cosmetic containers as they'd be quite valuable these days and she expresses her amazement.

How does she relax? "Walking, gardening and painting. I don't paint 'normally', that is I paint people with no eyes, no ears and no noses. Just a mouth. It's a naive and simple style, rather reflective of me. Children seem to like the paintings. Some of my work was put forward by the Daily Mail in a celebrity art contest and their critic loved my work but Harry Secombe's beat me to a prize." Music is another relaxation for Carol. "Native American music, Motown, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Beatles, Crosby Stills and Nash, Procol Harum - they are all favourites of mine."

Carol shares her time between the UK and Spain these days and is 'doing-up' her house in Spain which is a major exercise but one she is finding very rewarding. "I love Spain, the people and the language. I love the sun and the heat. It's an old farmhouse in 'el campo' and I'm designing the interior as well as the huge garden, which has trees, palms and oleander plants mostly set amongst gravel.

I ask Carol to say a few words about some of the many great comedy actors she has worked with...... 

Carry On Abroad with Carol centre between Sid James and Joan Sims

Carol laughs throughout our interview as she remembers things and as we chat about her comedic roles and partners. I tell her my favourite bit from Porridge, which is where Fletcher and Godber are in their cell and Fletcher is doing the Sun crossword...... "It can be found at the bottom of bird cages. Four letters, ending in 'it'...", says Fletcher. Godber thinks for a second...... "Grit...", he confidently suggests. "Oh yeah..." says Fletcher. "......have you got a rubber?" Carol howls with laughter at that one. She has an infectious laugh which comes right from her core. What makes good comedy then Carol? "I don't think comedy can be analysed, it's either funny or it's not." Carol explains that in a lot of sketches and scenes you can see where she is just about to crack-up. 

What is Carol most proud of? "Playing Mary Smith in Run For Your Wife. Ida in See How They Run. And Susan in Wait Until Dark - I had to play a blind woman in that role and it was very hard pretending to be blind when one could see. I had spent about two weeks walking around with my eyes closed trying to get an idea of what blindness would be like, but playing the part with my eyes open was a challenge." I can't talk to Carol without asking her about her appearance in the cult TV show Blake's Seven. "I played Kerrill in one episode - The City At The Edge Of The World. I was voted the best female guest artist, which was rather flattering." 

What is keeping Carol occupied these days and what does she have lined-up for the future? "Oh, I am taking time-out for a bit of thinking time. And this Spanish house is like a Tardis with large rooms and demands most of my attention so I am busy tarting that up. I'm sure I'll be appearing at another collector's convention again before long though."