Hattie Jacques came up through radio comedy, appearing in It's That Man Again, Educating Archie and Hancock's Half Hour, before becoming one of the most beloved faces of the Carry On series. Across 14 films between 1958 and 1974 she was most often cast as a formidable hospital matron, playing the role five times and becoming inseparable from it in the public imagination. Alongside her film work she formed a long and much-loved television partnership with Eric Sykes, playing his on-screen sister in the sitcom Sykes, and was widely regarded off-screen as a warm, maternal presence among her Carry On co-stars.