How times change. In the year this film was released, 1962, it was certified as a rather adult 15 (or an A rating, for 'adult', as it was known at the time). Now, fifty years later, and making its debut on DVD, it's nothing more than a PG.

It's a comedy that comes from the studio that released the first twelve Carry On films – Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd, which is some mouthful – I say matron. The second film in the long-running series to be released was the successful Carry on Nurse in 1959, which starred many of the regulars from the series, including Hattie Jacques, Leslie Phillips and Kenneth Williams.

The film was based on the play Ring for Catty, which was written by Patrick Cargill, who went on to make a name for himself starring in the TV show Father, Dear Father. The curious thing is, Twice Round the Daffodils is also based on exactly the same play. Could it therefore be one of the earliest examples of a re-boot of a series?

Clearly the studio though that the success that came from Carry on Nurse could be replicated in another guise. So much so that they got the same director and producer from the Carry On film, Gerald Thomas and Peter Rogers, to look after this one.

Four new patients arrive at Lenton Sanatorium: George (Lance Percival)), Ian (Donald Sinden), Chris (Andrew Ray) and John (Donald Houston). They all have one thing in common, they all suffer from TB. They join a ward where Henry (Kenneth Williams) and Bob (Ronald Lewis) have been for some time and have already settled in.

The six of them now have to come to terms with not only sharing a ward with each other, but also the same disease. Some of them clearly cope better than others. What helps them keep their mind off of things are the nurses, including Nurse Catty (Juliet Mills).

With so many men cooped up for so long, it's only natural that the nurses become the focus of attention for some of them. Possibly too much attention. Some of them turn to their visitors for distraction, others hobbies, but for one or two of them, they just can't help themselves developing obsessions – healthy or otherwise – over the staff.

Now I know it sounds impossible but I can guarantee, for five English pounds, that you can grow a moustache like mine.

Although it appears from the outset that this is nothing more than a Carry On in everything but name, it actually has a number of bittersweet moments.

The first half sees one character, a tough pit worker, suffer from a breakdown; he's the bread winner at home, and he cannot take the shame of being in bed all day and not providing for his family. It's quite dark territory, especially for a comedy, and is the kind of thing that you certainly wouldn't see in any Carry On film.

It's nowhere near as bawdy as a Carry On film either. Despite there being a number of scenes where nurses are portrayed as sexual objects, it certainly doesn't match any of the Carry On films in terms of double entendres. Williams does mention bashing the bishop though, somewhat out of the blue, in one scene, and the line truly sticks out a country mile compared to everything else.

As it's not an all out comedy, or even all that dramatic, the film falls short from being truly effective in either camp. That said, it's always a joy to see Kenneth Williams in anything, and the film itself is a charming, retro curiosity, proving itself to be an enjoyable specimen of early sixties British hospital humour.