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Jim Dale appeared in 11 Carry On films, but he was convinced he'd ruined his prospects before he'd even started. Dale had a tiny role in Raising the Wind, which isn't officially part of the Carry On series but features many of its stars, including Kenneth Williams.

Carry On veteran Jim Dale, pictured in 2015.

"I only had one line," he tells Wes Butters. "Kenneth Williams had to yell out, 'Where's your music?' and I had to shout back, 'I haven't got it. Oh yes I have, I was sitting on it all the time.' I thought, that’s not going to win me an Academy Award." So Dale decided to give his one line some oomph by doing it in an impersonation of Williams' voice.

"Everybody fell about laughing and then I saw Kenneth Williams run over to the director, pointing at me, shaking his fists. I thought, that's it… I went home knowing I'd never appear in another [film]."

"A year later, they called me up and asked if I'd like to become a Carry On member… I said, 'But Kenneth Williams hates my guts.' [The person on the phone] said, 'No no no, Kenneth came up to me after that and said, 'Use him, for god's sake. If he can take the mickey out of me and make me laugh, he's worth a bloody fortune for you.'"

2. Sid James wasn't a fan of his Spanish counterpart

The Carry On films weren't just shown in the UK. They were released around the world, sometimes with the characters' dialogue re-recorded by foreign actors.

In a previously unreleased interview, the late Sid James remembers his shock at hearing the 'Spanish Sid James'. "We were somewhere in Spain… and we saw Carry On Cowboy advertised," he says.

"We thought we'd go and see it. There I was playing the Rumpo Kid… and they'd stuck a bloody soprano voice on me. The fella had a very high-pitched voice and a very high-pitched laugh. I nearly fell about. I stayed for about 10 minutes and then I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to get out of there. Fancy putting a voice like that on me!"

3. Hattie Jacques was like a walking cream cake

Hattie Jacques was one of the most beloved of the Carry On crew and, as Jacki Piper tells Wes Butters, she was the mother figure of the group. "She was like a walking cream cake. She was like a walking coal fire. She was just lovely." She continues: "She and I hated seeing ourselves on screen… so she and I used to rush off to the tea trolley and eat bacon sarnies instead of watching the rushes."

Jim Dale says he wishes she'd been given more funny lines on screen, rather than so often playing the severe, matronly type. "She was a very, very funny lady. I only wish they'd given her more joke lines," he says. "She used to just be the one who threw lines at Kenneth and he got the punchline."

Remembering Joan Sims, who appeared in an incredible 24 Carry On films, Jacki Piper recalls sitting with her on set of Carry On Up the Jungle, as Joan watched 'herself' shower.

Joan Sims performing alongside Kenneth Williams in his 大象传媒 TV series.

They had to carry Joan Sims out of the studio laughing her head off.

Jim Dale

"She was supposed to be having a shower naked in the jungle, with little bits of her being seen," she says. "Of course, she wasn't. She had a body stand-in. She sat next to me saying, 'Ooooh haven't I got a lovely body… Nice bum.' She was making me scream with laughter."

5. And Sims often made herself laugh too

"Sometimes she couldn't keep a straight face," says Jim Dale of Sims. He remembers a scene she shot in a film with Dick Emery, in which Emery's character was talking about birds called 'big bustards' while eating a salad.

"Joan started to laugh and the director said, 'Cut. Now Joan, cut it out. It's not funny.' She said, 'Well it is funny, that's why I'm laughing.' Take two, she burst into laughter again. Take three, she started to become hysterical. Take four, they actually carried Joan out of the studio laughing her head off."

6. Kenneth Williams never spoke in his own voice

The late, great Kenneth Williams was the lynchpin of the Carry On series, appearing in 26 films – more than any other actor. And according to Jacki Piper, he loved his position as chief-entertainer.

"He used to tell me all these stories," she says. "[The director] would be saying, 'Kenneth, please come and do this scene.' And he'd say, 'Oh no, I'm in the middle of telling Miss Piper this lovely story.'" And he was endlessly performing.

"He never really spoke in voice that wasn't 'a voice'. He never spoke in a voice that wasn't something [put on]."

7. Improvisation was forbidden

The Carry On cast included some of the greatest British comic actors of the past century, but that didn't mean they were permitted to go off-script.

"Everyone had to be word perfect for that script," says Jim Dale. "That script had been edited, edited, edited – and you were not allowed to improvise, as they often are today. It was very disciplined on that set."

Discipline was essential because they'd rarely shoot more than one take. "They were very reluctant to do more than one due to the cost of real film in those days," says Dale.

Speaking of costs, while the films were hugely profitable for years, and were produced on big budgets, producer Peter Rogers was particularly famous for being careful with his money.

Sid James in 1964.

When she made her first Carry On appearance, Jacki Piper remembers asking if she could have a car to get her to set early each morning. "He nearly fell of his chair with shock," she says.

"He said, 'Well, Miss Piper' – he went all very formal – 'You can either have a car and no money, or money and no car.' I decided very quickly to take the money.'" Frugal as he was, when he died in 2009 Rogers did leave a large percentage of his estate to a charity that helps those who work in film and TV.

9. There was nowhere they weren't recognised

Sid James says there was "no place in the world where they didn't know Carry On". He remembers travelling to Bangkok and thinking he was finally somewhere nobody would know him. No such luck. "We get to the passport bloke and he gets a funny look on his face and says, 'Carry On Camping.'"

But being recognisable had its advantages. On holiday in Honolulu, James encountered another passport control officer. "He's about 18ft high, nose all over his face, two cauliflower ears – he's the toughest looking customer I’ve ever seen." At that time, James says he would sometimes encounter an attitude from officials who noted that he was born in South Africa.

"So he looks at my passport, then he looks down at me from his 18ft and I turned to my wife and said, 'Here we go.' However, he shouts in a voice that blows the place apart, 'CAAARRY OOOONNN!'… And he took [my wife] and I straight through customs. Straight through the lot… So it does come in handy."

You can listen to all of the interviews with Carry On stars Jim Dale, Jacki Piper and Sid James in full here.