Carry On star Joan Sims has died at the age of 71.

She had been ill for several months.

Sims appeared in 24 of the 29 Carry On films, as a prim middle-class girl with pretentions, as well as two of the Doctor films and The Belles Of St Trinians.

Her TV appearances included Worzel Gummidge, The Stanley Baxter Show, Till Death Us Do Part and On the Up.

She was born in Laidon, Essex, on May 9, 1930 and never married, although Kenneth Williams did once propose during the making of Carry On Loving. In an interview with The Independetn last year she confessed to feeling lonely.

The paperback edition of her autobiography High Spirits is due to be published on Monday.

Barbara Windsor is now the last surviving member of the core Carry On team.

Paying tribute to Joan, she said: "To me she was the last of the great Carry Ons. Her talent was wonderful. She could do any accent or dialect, she could dance, sing, play dowdy and glam. We laughed all the time. I will sorely miss her."