Carry On Laughing which - by contrast - are broadcast regularly on British television. It is also considered much less successful at transferring the established formula to the small screen than the "Carry On Christmas specials". The series was conceived after the departures of two long-serving "Carry On" contributors: writer Talbot Rothwell and actor Charles Hawtrey. Furthermore, Kenneth Williams declined to appear in the series. Other "Carry On" regulars only appeared in a minority of episodes: Sid James in only the first four, Hattie Jacques in only one; and Bernard Bresslaw appeared only in the second series. In the absence of Rothwell, other
Kenneth Williams abandoned Christianity following discussions with the poet Philip Larkin. Williams had been a Methodist, though he spent much of his life struggling with Christianity's teachings on homosexuality. "Kenneth Williams Unseen" by Wes Butters and Russell Davies, the first Williams biography in 15 years, was published in October 2008. An authorised biography, "Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams", by Christopher Stevens, was published in October 2010. This drew for the first time on the full Williams archive of diaries and letters, which had been stored in a London bank for 15 years following publication of edited extracts. The biography notes