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63-422: Carry On Doctor is a 1967 British comedy film, the 15th in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992). It is the second in the series to have a medical theme. Frankie Howerd makes the first of his two appearances in the film series and stars alongside regulars Sid James , Kenneth Williams , Jim Dale , Charles Hawtrey , Joan Sims , Peter Butterworth , and Bernard Bresslaw . Hattie Jacques returns for

126-517: A simulation running on the player's computer, with certain characters being aware of this fact and sometimes communicating directly with the player. In other cases of metafictional video games, the game alters the player's expectation of how the game should behave, which may make the player question if their own game system is at fault, helping to increase the immersion of the game. But since video games are inherently much more interactive than traditional films and literature, defining what truly breaks

189-582: A "pretty" puppet play being performed in Covent Garden, London . The various episodes of Punch and Judy are dominated by the anarchic clowning of Mr. Punch. Satire has been a major feature of comedy in the British Isles for centuries. The pictorial satire of William Hogarth was a precursor to the development of political cartoons in 18th-century England. The medium developed under the direction of James Gillray from London, who has been referred to as

252-510: A Clue (1972–), and The News Quiz (1977–), which often broadcast a dozen of so episodes a year. Following the success of Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son , sitcoms became a part of some television schedules. The BBC has generally been dominant in television comedy , but the commercial stations have also had some successes. Other formats have also been popular, such as with sketch shows , stand-up comedy , impressionists , and puppet shows . Notable satirical comedies are

315-544: A form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among the young comedians who worked for him as part of "Fred Karno's Army". Radio comedy in Britain has been almost exclusively the preserve of the BBC . In the 1940s and 1950s, variety dominated the schedules, and popular series included It's That Man Again and Much Binding in the Marsh . In the 1950s,

378-515: A pantomime conversation with the audience in The Disorderly Orderly (1964). The final scene of The Patsy (1964) is famous for revealing to the audience the movie as a movie, and Lewis as actor/director. In the 1986 teen film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off , the eponymous character breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience throughout the entire movie. Characters in the 2017 mockumentary film I, Tonya consistently address

441-414: A recording by the song's writer. The films Deadpool , Deadpool 2 , and Deadpool & Wolverine are specifically known for the main character Deadpool , played by Ryan Reynolds , consistently breaking the fourth wall. Funny Games has Paul and Peter repeatedly breaking the fourth wall by turning around and winking at the camera, talking to the audience by saying they are probably rooting for

504-423: A self-aware character that recognizes that they are in a video game, or having secret or bonus content set outside the game's narrative that can either extend the game world (such as with the use of false documents ) or provide "behind the scenes" type content. Such cases typically create a video game that includes a metafiction narrative, commonly presently characters in the game incorporating knowledge they are in

567-401: A specific in-universe issue. An example of this is in the first episode of the final season of the show Attack on Titan , where a newly introduced character, Falco Grice , starts to hallucinate about events that took place in the last 3 seasons. This literary device utilises self-referencing to trigger media-awareness in the recipient, used to signpost the drastic shift in perspective from

630-419: A subversive maverick who defies authority, a kind of puppet equivalent to our political cartoons." — Punch and Judy showman Glyn Edwards British comedy history is measured in centuries. Shakespeare incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies, such as in his play The Comedy of Errors . Punch and Judy made their first recorded appearance in Britain in 1662, when Samuel Pepys noted

693-511: A video game and narrates what the player sees as part of the UI. Eternal Darkness , which included a sanity meter, would simulate various common computer glitches to the player as the sanity meter drained, including the Blue Screen of Death . The Stanley Parable is also a well-known example of this, as the narrator from the game constantly tries to reason with the player, even going so far as to beg

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756-467: A video game. For example, in Doki Doki Literature Club! , one of the characters ( Monika ) is aware that she is a part of a video game, and at the end, communicates with the player. To progress further in the story, the player must remove the “monika.chr” file (an action they take outside of the game). The plot of the game OneShot revolves around the fictional universe of the game being

819-426: Is metatheatrical . A similar effect of metareference is achieved when the performance convention of avoiding direct contact with the camera, generally used by actors in a television drama or film, is temporarily suspended. The phrase "breaking the fourth wall" is used to describe such effects in those media. Breaking the fourth wall is also possible in other media, such as video games and books . The acceptance of

882-604: Is a late modern era example. It was popularized in the early 20th century during the Post-Modern literary movement . Artists like Virginia Woolf in To the Lighthouse and Kurt Vonnegut in Breakfast of Champions used the genre to question the accepted knowledge and sources of the culture. The use of metafiction or breaking the fourth wall in literature varies from that on stage in that

945-401: Is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th century onward, the rise of illusionism in staging practices, which culminated in the realism and naturalism of the theatre of the 19th century , led to the development of

1008-419: Is appointed the new hospital registrar while Tinkle is reduced to a simple doctor. Mr Barron, now fully recovered and cured, leaves with his wife and their new baby. Meanwhile, Bigger prepares to leave the hospital with Chloe, but resents the bickering he must endure and the fact that he must give up his work as a faith healer. On the way out, Bigger deliberately falls on the steps and injures his back again. As he

1071-471: Is being brought back inside the hospital, he breaks the fourth wall to inform the audience he hopes he will be staying for a long time. Filming dates: 11 September to 20 October 1967 Interiors : Exteriors : The film was the third biggest general release hit at the British box office in 1968, after The Jungle Book and Barbarella . According to Kinematograph Weekly , there were four British films in

1134-508: Is detested by the patients as much as is the battleaxe Matron, who harbors an unrequited love for Tinkle. Shortly after Bigger's arrival, the hospital receives a novice nurse, Sandra May, who reveals to Clarke that she intends to meet Tinkle to repay him for saving her life - although in reality, she was merely given treatment for tonsillitis. After completing a shift on the wards, May heads for Tinkle's room to profess her love for him, violating hospital rules that female staff are not permitted in

1197-408: Is due to give birth to their first child, leaving him suffering sympathy pains. During Bigger's stay in hospital, he meets the clumsy yet charming Dr. Jim Kilmore, who is popular with the patients and loved from afar by the beautiful Nurse Clarke, who subsequently causes him trouble by accident while being checked over. The day after his admission, Bigger meets Dr. Kenneth Tinkle, Kilmore's superior, who

1260-433: Is going to commit suicide after her encounter with Tinkle, unaware she intends to sunbathe. In trying to rescue her, Kilmore creates an unfortunate scene that leaves him subject to claims of sexual deviancy. Summoned to a hearing with the hospital governor, Kilmore attempts to reveal the truth, but Tinkle and Matron deny the accusation, revealing that May has since been made to leave. Nurse Clarke knows what really happened on

1323-491: Is more effective than medical treatment, suffers an accident during one of his lectures. Admitted to the local hospital, he quickly demands a private room after encountering his ward's eccentric patients: bedridden layabout Charlie Roper, who fakes symptoms to stay in hospital; Ken Biddle who, while recovering from an operation, makes frequent trips to the ladies' ward to flirt with his love interest, Mavis Winkle; and Mr Barron, whose mental health has declined following news his wife

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1386-461: The 1960s series That Was The Week That Was , the 1980s series Not the Nine O'Clock News , and ITV 's puppet show Spitting Image . The show of the 1980s and early 1990s, Spitting Image , was a satire of politics, entertainment, sport, and British culture of the era, and at its peak, it was watched by 15 million people. British satire has also gone over into quiz shows ; popular examples include

1449-530: The BBC was running Hancock's Half Hour starring Tony Hancock . Hancock's Half Hour was later transferred to television. One of the notable radio shows was the double entendre -laden Round the Horne (1965–1968), a sequel to the earlier series Beyond Our Ken , which ran from 1959 to 1964. Later radio shows made use of the panel game format, including the long-running Just a Minute (1967–), I'm Sorry I Haven't

1512-643: The Eldian to the Marleyan side, and can be employed in all sorts of media. The use of breaking the fourth wall in television has sometimes been unintentional. In the Doctor Who episode " The Caves of Androzani ", the character of Morgus looks directly at the camera when thinking aloud. This was due to actor John Normington misunderstanding a stage direction, but the episode's director, Graeme Harper , felt that this helped increase dramatic tension, and decided not to reshoot

1575-408: The audience during interview sequences. Characters are removed from the rest of the group to speak and reflect on their experiences. The person behind the camera, the interviewer, is also referenced when the characters gaze and speak straight to the camera. The interviewer, however, is only indirectly spoken to and remains hidden. This technique, when used in shows with complex genres, serves to heighten

1638-470: The audience several times during each episode, giving the viewer comments on his own actions on the show. The same technique is also used, though less frequently, in the American adaptation of House of Cards by main character Frank Underwood . The Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events , based on Daniel Handler 's book series of the same name , incorporates some of the narrative elements from

1701-604: The audience throughout the movie's runtime. Kevin Costner breaks the fourth wall with a glance towards the camera near the end of Oliver Stone 's 1991 film JFK . Edward Norton breaks the fourth wall in 1999's Fight Club . Mike Myers broke the fourth wall in The Love Guru when he looked directly at the camera for a split-second when a Queen song came on as a reference to the famous Wayne's World head-banging scene. Eddie Murphy makes two brief, wordless glances at

1764-480: The audience to applaud in an effort to revive the fading Tinker Bell ("If you believe in fairies, clap your hands!"). One of the earliest recorded breakings of the fourth wall in serious cinema was in Mary MacLane 's 1918 silent film Men Who Have Made Love to Me , in which the enigmatic author – who portrays herself – interrupts the vignettes onscreen to address the audience directly. Oliver Hardy often broke

1827-401: The audience's illusion or suspension of disbelief , by acknowledging them directly. Conway argues that this expansion of the magic circle in video games actually serves to more fully immerse a player into the fictional world rather than take the viewer out of the fictional world, as is more common in traditional fourth wall breaks. An example of this expansion of the magic circle can be found in

1890-479: The audience, and behave exactly as if the curtain had never risen". Critic Vincent Canby described it in 1987 as "that invisible scrim that forever separates the audience from the stage". The fourth wall did not exist as a concept for much of dramatic history. Classical plays from ancient Greece to the Renaissance have frequent direct addresses to the audience such as asides and soliloquies . The presence of

1953-479: The audience, focus their attention exclusively on the dramatic world, and remain absorbed in its fiction, in a state that the theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski called "public solitude" (the ability to behave as one would in private, despite, in actuality, being watched intently while so doing, or to be "alone in public"). In this way, the fourth wall exists regardless of the presence of any actual walls in

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2016-429: The books by having Lemony Snicket as a narrator character (played by Patrick Warburton ) speaking directly to the television viewer that frequently breaks the fourth wall to explain various literary wordplay in a manner similar to the book's narration. The protagonist of Fleabag also frequently uses the technique to provide exposition, internal monologues, and a running commentary to the audience. Every episode of

2079-601: The breaking of the fourth wall as a central plot point. The fourth wall was used as an integral part of the plot structure and to demonstrate the character played by Michael Caine, in his eponymous breakout role in the 1966 film Alfie , who frequently spoke to the audience to explain the thinking and motivation of the womanizing young man, speaking directly to the camera, narrating and justifying his actions, his words often contrasting with his actions. Jerry Lewis wrote in his 1971 book The Total Filmmaker , "Some film-makers believe you should never have an actor look directly into

2142-422: The camera deliberately break the fourth wall and re-frame the horizon, referencing the advice given to Spielberg by film director John Ford in the 1960s, which the film references. Select theatrical screenings of Francis Ford Coppola 's 2024 science fiction epic Megalopolis , including its private industry screenings and world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival , had a person walk on stage in front of

2205-761: The camera in Trading Places . Jon Cryer breaks the fourth wall with a glance at the camera near the end of the 1986 film Pretty In Pink , as does Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit , Jason Sudeikis in We're The Millers , and Kurt Russell in Death Proof (a nod to Reynolds in Bandit ). Hulk Hogan breaks the wall by addressing the audience directly in Gremlins 2: The New Batch . Near

2268-421: The camera. At the start of the credit sequence, a voice can be heard shouting "Thank you, Mr. Forbes" to acknowledge producer Bryan Forbes . In the end, Bobbie Waterbury ( Jenny Agutter ) holds up a small slate on which "The End" is written in chalk. In Mr. Bean's Holiday , the entire cast, together with massed extras, break the fourth wall while joining in singing " La Mer " by Charles Trenet , accompanied by

2331-580: The camera. They maintain it makes the audience uneasy, and interrupts the screen story. I think that is nonsense, and usually I have my actors, in a single, look direct into the camera at least once in a film, if a point is to be served." Martin and Lewis look directly at the audience in You're Never Too Young (1955), and Lewis and co-star Stella Stevens each look directly into the camera several times in The Nutty Professor (1963), and Lewis' character holds

2394-506: The comic tone of the show while also proving that the camera itself is far from a passive onlooker. Another approach to breaking the fourth wall is through a central narrator character who is part of the show's events, but at times speaks directly to the audience. For example, Francis Urquhart in the British TV drama series House of Cards , To Play the King and The Final Cut addresses

2457-433: The end of Nobody's Fool , Tiffany Haddish breaks the fourth wall by declaring that the film is not over and then proceeding to ruin a wedding ceremony. In The Railway Children the entire cast breaks the fourth wall and performs a curtain call as the credits roll. The camera moves slowly along a railway track towards a train that is decked in flags, in front of which all of the cast is assembled, waving and cheering to

2520-472: The experience is not communal but personal to the reader and develops a self-consciousness within the character/reader relationship that works to build trust and expand thought. This does not involve an acknowledgment of a character's fictive nature. Breaking the fourth wall in literature is not always metafiction. Modern examples of breaking the fourth wall include Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota , and William Goldman's The Princess Bride . Sorj Chalandon wrote

2583-465: The family, addressing the film is not at its feature runtime and smiling at the camera at the end of the film. The 2022 Persuasion film was criticized for its modernization take on the classic 1817 Jane Austen novel by having the main protagonist Anne Elliot (played by Dakota Johnson ) constantly breaking the fourth wall by interacting with the audience. The last shot of Steven Spielberg 's 2022 semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans has

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2646-549: The father of the political cartoon. In early 19th-century England, pantomime acquired its present form, which includes slapstick comedy and featured the first mainstream clown, Joseph Grimaldi , while comedy routines also featured heavily in British music hall theatre which became popular in the 1850s. British comedians who honed their skills at pantomime and music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin , Stan Laurel , George Formby , and Dan Leno . The English music hall comedian and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed

2709-540: The first time since Carry On Cabby four years earlier, while Barbara Windsor returns after her debut in Carry On Spying three years earlier. Carry On Doctor marks Anita Harris 's second and final appearance in the series. The film was followed by Carry On Up the Khyber in 1968. Charlatan faith healer Francis Bigger, who convinces attendees, with the help of his assistant Chloe Gibson, that " mind over matter "

2772-409: The fourth wall is violating this performance convention, which has been adopted more generally in the drama. This can be done by either directly referring to the audience, to the play as a play, or the characters' fictionality. The temporary suspension of the convention in this way draws attention to its use in the rest of the performance. This act of drawing attention to a play's performance conventions

2835-462: The fourth wall concept. The metaphor suggests a relationship to the mise-en-scène behind a proscenium arch . When a scene is set indoors and three of the walls of its room are presented onstage, in what is known as a box set , the fourth of them would run along the line (technically called the proscenium ) dividing the room from the auditorium . The fourth wall , though, is a theatrical convention, rather than of set design . The actors ignore

2898-481: The fourth wall in his films with Stan Laurel , when he would stare directly at the camera to seek sympathy from viewers. Groucho Marx spoke directly to the audience in Animal Crackers (1930), and Horse Feathers (1932), in the latter film advising them to "go out to the lobby" during Chico Marx 's piano interlude. Comedy films by Mel Brooks , Monty Python , and Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker frequently broke

2961-410: The fourth wall in the video game medium becomes difficult. Steven Conway, writing for Gamasutra , suggests that in video games, many purported examples of breaking the fourth wall are actually better understood as relocations of the fourth wall or expansions of the " magic circle " (the fictional game world) to encompass the player. This is in contrast to traditional fourth wall breaks, which break

3024-421: The fourth wall is an established convention of modern realistic theatre , which has led some artists to draw direct attention to it for dramatic or comic effect when a boundary is "broken" when an actor or character addresses the audience directly. Breaking the fourth wall is common in pantomime and children's theatre where, for example, a character might ask the children for help, as when Peter Pan appeals to

3087-473: The fourth wall, such that with these films "the fourth wall is so flimsy and so frequently shattered that it might as well not exist", according to The A.V. Club . Woody Allen broke the fourth wall repeatedly in his movie Annie Hall (1977), as he explained, "because I felt many of the people in the audience had the same feelings and the same problems. I wanted to talk to them directly and confront them." His 1985 film The Purple Rose of Cairo features

3150-565: The game Evidence: The Last Ritual , in which the player receives an in-game email at their real-life email address and must visit out-of-game websites to solve some of the puzzles in the game. Other games may expand the magic circle to include the game's hardware. For example, X-Men for the Mega Drive/Genesis requires players to reset their game console at a certain point to reset the X-Men's in-game Hazard Room, while Metal Gear Solid asks

3213-403: The male quarters. However, Tinkle cruelly rebuffs her affection, only to find himself caught in an awkward situation by Kilmore and Matron. Fearing for his position, after the departure of May and Kilmore, Tinkle contrives with Lavinia to cover up the truth. An opportunity soon arises for Tinkle to be rid of Kilmore. The young doctor spots May going onto the roof of the nurse's home and believes she

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3276-421: The news quiz Have I Got News for You , 8 out of 10 cats , and Shooting Stars . In the 1980s, alternative comedy was spearheaded by Ben Elton and The Comic Strip group, which included Alexei Sayle , Rik Mayall , and French and Saunders . The 1990s and 2000s also have those that have used editing , surreal humour , and cultural references to great effect. Fourth wall The fourth wall

3339-427: The orderlies. The group bring along Bigger who, after mishearing Tinkle's conversation with his assistant, believes he is dying. This has prompted him to marry Chloe. The gang capture Tinkle and Matron. While the women force a confession from Matron by making her endure a blanket bath, the men force Tinkle to confess after threatening him with an enema , after several other methods fail to work. The next day, Dr Kilmore

3402-515: The player to put the DualShock controller on their neck to simulate a back massage being given in-game. Other examples include the idle animation of Sonic the Hedgehog in his games where the on-screen character would look to the player and tap his foot impatiently if left alone for a while, and one level of Max Payne has the eponymous character come to the realization he and other characters are in

3465-484: The player to switch off the game at one point. The method of breaking the fourth wall in literature is a metalepsis (the transgression of narrative levels), which is a technique often used in metafiction . The metafiction genre occurs when a character within a literary work acknowledges the reality that they are in fact a fictitious being. The use of the fourth wall in literature can be traced back as far as The Canterbury Tales and Don Quixote . Northanger Abbey

3528-503: The projection screen and address the protagonist, Cesar, who seemingly breaks the fourth wall by replying in real time. On television, the fourth wall has broken throughout the history of the medium. Fourth wall breakage is common in comedy, and is used frequently by Bugs Bunny and other characters in Looney Tunes and other later animated shows, as well as the live-action 1960s sketch comedy of Monty Python's Flying Circus , which

3591-404: The roof. With his reputation in ruins, Kilmore decides to resign, prompting Clarke to tell the male patients what she knows. Roper, disgusted with what was done to Kilmore, arranges for the whole ward to seek revenge on Tinkle and Matron, with Biddle asking Mavis for the help of the women patients. Conducting a nocturnal mutiny, the patients swiftly subdue Sister Hoggett, preventing her from alerting

3654-412: The scenes. Given their interactive nature, nearly all video games break the fourth wall by asking for the player's participation and having user interface elements on the screen (such as explanations of the game's controls) that address the player rather than their character. Methods of fourth wall breaking within the narrative include having the character face the direction of the player/screen, having

3717-400: The set, the physical arrangement of the theatre building or performance space, or the actors' distance from or proximity to the audience. In practice, performers often feed off the energy of the audience in a palpable way while modulating performance around the collective response, especially in pacing action around outbursts of laughter, so that lines are not delivered inaudibly. Breaking

3780-595: The sitcom Saved by the Bell breaks the fourth wall during the introduction by the character Zack Morris . Most episodes have several other fourth wall breaks. This is similar to how The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , Clarissa Explains It All and Malcolm in the Middle use fourth wall breaks to set up stories or have characters comment on situations. Furthermore, breaking the fourth wall can also be used in meta-referencing in order to draw attention to or invite reflection about

3843-510: The top ten general releases of 1968: Up the Junction , Poor Cow , Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Carry on Doctor . British comedy "[Pulcinella] went down particularly well with Restoration British audiences, fun-starved after years of Puritanism . We soon changed Punch's name, transformed him from a marionette to a hand puppet, and he became, really, a spirit of Britain -

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3906-411: The transparency of the fourth wall is part of the suspension of disbelief between a work of fiction and an audience, allowing them to enjoy the fiction as though they were observing real events. The concept is usually attributed to the philosopher, critic and dramatist Denis Diderot , who wrote in 1758 that actors and writers should "imagine a huge wall across the front of the stage, separating you from

3969-505: The troupe also brought to their feature films. George Burns regularly broke the fourth wall on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950). Another convention of breaking the fourth wall is often seen on mockumentary sitcoms, including The Office . Mockumentary shows that break the fourth wall poke fun at the documentary genre with the intention of increasing the satiric tone of the show. Characters in The Office directly speak to

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