After the Second World War ended, Cargill returned to Britain to focus on a stage career, and joined
Anthony Hawtrey's company at
Buxton,
Croydon and later the
Embassy Theatre at
Swiss Cottage in London. He became a supporting player in
John Counsell's
repertory at
Windsor alongside
Brenda Bruce and
Beryl Reid and scored a huge hit in the revue ''The World's the Limit'', which was seen by
the Queen and 26 of her guests one evening. He made his first
West End appearance in 1953 in
Ian Carmichael's revue
High Spirits at the
London Hippodrome. He also co-wrote the stage play
Ring for Catty, with
Jack Beale. The second of the
Carry On films,
Carry On Nurse, produced in 1959, was based on this play as was the 1962 film
Twice Round the Daffodils. After a number of other West End roles he was cast as Bernard in
Boeing Boeing at the
Apollo Theatre in 1962. The farce, which was ideal for Cargill, drew the attention of major producers led to him starring in
Say Who You Are at
Her Majesty's Theatre in 1965 and directing
Not Now Darling by
Ray Cooney and
John Chapman at the
Strand Theatre in 1968.
Television Cargill first came to TV notice when playing
Sergeant Cuff in the 1959 series
The Moonstone. In 1960, Cargill played
Gestapo agent Herr Grosnitz in the BBC TV series "The Long Way Home". He also performed on several occasions with
Tony Hancock, twice in Hancock's final
BBC television series, including a role as the doctor who clashes with him in the well-known episode "
The Blood Donor" (1961). In 1961–62 he featured as the regular character Miguel Garetta in all 26 episodes of the British spy series
Top Secret, and in 1962 he played Herr Straffen in
The Last Man Out, a TV series by
Shaun Sutton, followed two years later by a major part of an episode of
The Avengers TV series. In 1967, he appeared in two episodes of
The Prisoner as an unusually cruel and brutal
Number Two in "
Hammer Into Anvil", and as a colleague from Number Six's pre-Village days in "
Many Happy Returns". Brahms and Sherrin turned six of their adaptations into book form, and published it as
Ooh! La-La! in 1973, with a dedication: "To Patrick Cargill – First among Farceurs". In 1968, Cargill starred in
Father, Dear Father on
ITV (written specifically for him) as Patrick Glover, a thriller writer and an inept father of two teenage daughters, played by
Natasha Pyne (Anna) and Ann Holloway (Karen). The show ran until 1973 and was produced and directed by
William G. Stewart. Many performers who had worked before with the actor featured in an entertainment special called
Patrick, Dear Patrick, An Evening with Patrick Cargill and His Guests (1972). Cargill was a friend of
Patrick Macnee from their early acting days, and Macnee returned from California to make a guest appearance on the show. It included both Patricks singing "
Mad Dogs and Englishmen". Cargill's companion, Vernon Page, recounts that at the time of casting Cargill wanted to sing this duet with Sir
Noël Coward and even visited him at the hotel in London where he was staying in an attempt to persuade him to appear, but Coward was either unwilling or unable to agree to the request and he died 15 months later. This one-off special production by
Thames Television also guest-starred Beryl Reid, with whom Cargill sang the duet "I Remember It Well" by
Alan Jay Lerner and
Frederick Loewe (from
Gigi). Cargill added a new response to the line "We drank champagne" (Cargill's line): "You gave me Coke, you drank the wine yourself, you soak!" (Reid's riposte). In 1976, Cargill returned to the TV screens with
The Many Wives of Patrick, playing a middle-aged playboy and antiques dealer, Patrick Woodford, who is trying to divorce his sixth wife to remarry his first. This series showcased many prominent stars such as
Patrick Macnee and
Dawn Addams. The 1980s was something of a revival for Cargill's natural talent at farce. He co-starred in
Key for Two with
Moira Lister at the
Vaudeville Theatre and then at the
Old Vic Theatre in
William Douglas-Home's
After the Ball is Over. In 1986, he starred with
Frankie Howerd in
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the
Chichester Festival Theatre, in which he played the part of Senex. In his final years, Cargill was seen in
Captain Beaky at the Playhouse in 1990 and after that he toured in
Derek Nimmo's British Airways Playhouse. He also played British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain in the 1990 British Sitcom ''
Heil Honey I'm Home, which was cancelled after one episode. For the centenary staging of Charley's Aunt'' in 1992, Cargill played the part of the dreaded Spettigue.
Films His film appearances included
An Alligator Named Daisy and
Expresso Bongo; two of the
Carry On films:
Carry On Regardless and
Carry On Jack;
Help! (1965) starring
The Beatles,
The Magic Christian (1969) with
Peter Sellers and
Ringo Starr and
Charlie Chaplin's
A Countess from Hong Kong, in which he played the part of the butler, Hudson.
Music A lesser known detail of Cargill's showbusiness career is the handful of recordings that he made in the 1960s and 1970s. The first was an album called
Father, Dear Father (1969) in which Cargill sang a medley of songs. The female voice on the album was not Noel Dyson (Nanny) but that of June Hunt, a friend of Cargill. He followed this with three singles. One called "Father, Dear Father Christmas" and another called "Thinking Young" and the final single called "Father, Dear Father." None of these recordings was commercially successful. Cargill appeared as Sir Joseph Porter in
H.M.S. Pinafore at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall in August 1983. ==Personal life==