Arthur Ashton (Arthur Askey) is a clumsy wannabe entertainer who works as a make-up artist for National Television. Sid Gibson (Sid James) is a schemer who wants to make money selling a new detergent called Bonko but he is unable to shift the product. A chance meeting between the two in a local laundrette leads to the concoction of a plan for Bonko being advertised on National TV and with the help of cameraman Jack (Bernard Cribbins), they manage to interrupt a live program and pull of the coup. With consumer demand increasing for the product, they manage to plug further adverts during a live racing broadcast, a military tattoo and a ballet performance which leads to Arthur becoming something of a public hero as well as a wanted man by the police.

Great to see Carry On legend Sid James in action once again and there were also brief appearances for Barbara Windsor (switchboard operator) and Kenneth Connor (anxious husband) who were also to become Carry On Stars - the love interest for Sid in this film was provided by Sally Barnes though.  Comic legend Arthur Askey was the star of the show and in real life he was one of the big name performers on early radio and television, ultimately landing his own television show in 1961, just as his character did in this film two years earlier. We also get to see several legends of comedy and film in brief cameo roles towards the start of the film including Dickie Henderson, Evelyn Lae and top comedian Tommy Trinder - 'You Lucky People'. Finally Bernard Cribbins (Jack) played a good leading role in this film and he has appeared in numerous films and television programmes over the years with perhaps my favourtie being the Fawlty Towers episode where he plays the hotel inspector. 

There is a fantastic sequence shot at Ascot racecourse midway through the film where Sid, Jack, Sally and and Arthur plan to sabotage the live broadcast by entering the course in an ambulance and parking it next to outside TV unit. They fake a medical incident and during the decoy they connect up a cable from the adjacent unit. We get to see wonderful close ups of an Ascot race, with commentary once again provided by the impeccable Raymond Glendenning, and as soon as calls the winning horse 'Firework' over the line, Arthur interrupts the live coverage and plugs Bonko (see quote below) much to the dismay of the BBC governors.

I found this film quite appealing and like the notion of interrupting a BBC broadcast to advertise a product - imagine that happening now during a programme such as the Queen's Speech - I think it would have the same impact on sales as Bonko did and the BBC generals would probably go bonkers as well. I also like the sequence shot at Asoct racecourse. (Rating 7/10)