THE Carry On screenwriter Norman Hudis, who was a regular visitor to Mudeford, has died aged 93.

Mr Hudis, who had family connections locally, scripted the first six Carry On movies, starting with Carry On Sergeant in 1958.

Rita Hudis, his wife of almost 60 years, said in a statement: "He died peacefully at home with myself and Stephen and Kevin, his two sons."

Norman Hudis was a young playwright and scriptwriter when producer Peter Rogers asked him to rewrite the story of a collection of bungling National Service conscripts, which became Carry On Sergeant.

He went on to write Carry On Nurse, Teacher, Constable, Regardless and Carry On Cruising, before leaving for Hollywood.

There, he worked on television series including The Man From Uncle, Marcus Welby MD and It Takes a Thief – as well as being hired to write a film for Elvis Presley, which was never made.

In 2008, while visiting Mudeford after the publication of his memoir No Laughing Matter: How I Carried On, he said the success of the Carry Ons was partly because they focused on familiar targets.

"People only had to put their money down at the box office to see Carry On Sergeant and there's a familiarity about it – they knew half the jokes before they went in,” he said.

"Nurse was even more acceptable because the British concept of hospitals is pretty nurses, lascivious men and mountainous matrons. You've got your archetypes before you start."