Shiner!

SYNOPSIS England 2005. On a quest to find Hitler's long lost son, neo-Nazis pose as British soldiers and invade a small rural town. A grumpy old superhero and young policewoman discover the truth and lead the fightback. At their side are a Chinese prodigy, a pair of twins playing Robin Hood and a team of superheroes way past their prime. Alone, the motley crew don't stand a chance. Together, they reach the heights of bungling incompetence. But it's do or die and if the Nazis succeed, Hitler's DNA will spawn millions of genetic copies. CHARACTERS NEVILLE DUNSTON aka SHINER (67) Neville is a mild-mannered pensioner, who suffers from arthritis and a weak bladder. Shiner is a super-powered crime-fighter who risks his life and dispenses justice. One can't exist without the other, but an internal battle rages and the veteran has a cruel vindictive streak. ALICE FOSTER aka HITLER'S GRANDDAUGHTER (25) A tough, uncompromising police officer, Alice demands perfection from herself and others. However, pride comes before a fall and a shocking revelation shatters her world. KENDRICK HAYES (36) A true Scot playing cops'n'robbers, Kendrick tests Alice's patience and wears his heart on the sleeve. JANAL & HASINI MADAVI (23) Chalk and cheese, Janal and Hasini are twin siblings on an illicit crime-wave. Robbing banks is fun, but when love intervenes, heartbreak is around the corner. YIHAN WANG (8) Cursed by incompetent adults, Yihan is a child prodigy and world-weary cynic. And when she's finished her strawberry ice cream, she'll deal with the Nazis and a catatonic mother. MAJOR POWELL (39) A ruthless Nazi bent on world domination, Powell confuses the senses with his charming wit, aesthetic flair and handsome facade. GENERAL OTTO BRECHT (100 plus) Kept alive by cybernetic implants, the demented Nazi dreams of Nietzche's Übermenzch and an army of Hitler's children. INFORMATION Is it a bird? Is it a plane? A mutant hybrid, 'Shiner!' relocates the American superhero to a quaint English town and creates a distinctive world that is accessible to a mainstream audience. From the cinema inspiration comes from the Ealing Comedies of the 1950's, Powell and Pressburger's 'A Canterbury Tale' and 'A Matter of Life and Death', Mel Brooks 'Blazing Saddles' and Edgar Wright's 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz'. From television, influences include 'The Avengers', 'Dr Who' and Gerry Anderson's 'Thunderbirds' and 'Captain Scarlet', alongside recent US imports 'Doom Patrol', 'Invincible', 'Peacemaker' and 'The Boys'. Like 'Shiner!', these stories subvert genre convention with humour and generate a mystical sense of place, culture, identity and history. The lone hero is also an anachronism and to defeat the Nazis people from different ethnic backgrounds overcome prejudice and form new working relationships. And the issues, the important questions of the day... What if superheroes from the 1960's silver-age (Spider-Man, Iron-Man) had aged in real time? What if the years of crime-fighting had turned them into misanthropic old codgers? And what if the masks concealed Jekyll and Hyde personalities and all along, they really were delusional schizophrenics?