FOR: "The novel is every bit as funny as the film. Will 'the Winker' Quill is a deliciously funny send up of Shakespeare. I am sure this will infuriate the purists, but why not poke fun at the Bard? He was, after all, our greatest comedy writer when in the mood. If the Royal family get to read this, the author just might end up in the Tower!"

AGAINST: Author Norman Giller has decided to write all the speech in cod-Middle English, and to write French speech with 'z's instead of 'th's, with the result that certain passages are virtually unintelligible. As in the film, Barbara Windsor's character takes Henry's eye, but this is sidelined in favour of an almost promising plot about Will the Winker being assigned to write a biography of the King. Any promise held here degenerates into a barrage of tedious single entendres and poorly-drawn characters that bear almost no similarities to the Carry On cast we're supposed to imagine playing them. There is at least one bit that raised a smile: when Henry utters a ghostly message urging Wolsey to repent his sins he concludes with an advert for 'Thames Mead', who sponsored the utterance. This is the funniest bit, I think that says it all.

- Chris Chantler