Bernard Bresslaw and the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre [Zslap]

A GLIMPSE of sunshine at this time of year – and, admittedly, it was very brief this week – always has Harrington looking at the upcoming listings at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre to see what might be showing under the sunsets to come.

A retelling of the Robin Hood story looks like it might be worth a ticket when things get a little warmer in June.

It’d be nice, I thought, if somewhere during the summer season there could be even a small mention in the programme notes for dear old Bernard Bresslaw, so often an unsung member of the Carry On! films entourage.

Certainly, his name doesn’t always come up in the same vein as co-conspirators Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Williams when the farces are affectionately remembered.

Often he had the role of the gentle giant or a goofy sidekick to whichever cad James was playing, forever doubting a scam would work but going along with the caper anyway.

His catchphrase would be “I only arksed” or something equally goony.

You can see all of those comedies again now on ITV’s new streaming service, although they do come with a warning that some of the scenes may appear outdated.

The nature of the films – and it’s queasy to watch the bum-groping in something like Carry On Girls! – means it’s almost forgotten that Bresslaw was a fine comic actor in his own right.

In fact, 30 years ago he was about to appear in a production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew – albeit as Grumio – under the stars at the Regent’s Park theatre when he collapsed and died from a heart attack in the dressing rooms in 1993.

He was gone at just 59.

As it happened, the popular mother-in-law joke teller Les Dawson had also died from a heart attack the previous day and he was still dominating the obit pages and newspaper tributes when Bresslaw died.

But it’s a shame more is not said about him whenever that era is recalled.

In so many scenes Sid’s famously raspy one-liners required big Bernie to bounce off.