Synopsis/Details
In the grey, post-war haze of a sleepy 1960s English seaside town, ALBERT GRIMSHAW, a pompous yet perpetually unlucky council clerk, dreams of detective glory while trapped in a life of misfiled forms and nosy neighbors. When he intercepts a cryptic letter hinting at a smuggling ring at the local pier, Albert seizes his chance to become a hero. Armed with a dog-eared detective novel and an inflated sense of importance, he recruits SID, his lazy pub-pianist friend, and DOT, a no-nonsense café waitress who’s smarter than both of them.
Albert’s investigation is a comedy of errors: he mistakes innocent locals for criminals, misreads every clue, and nearly drowns them in a botched rowing boat stakeout. Convinced his nervous colleague Harold is the mastermind, Albert leads the trio into a series of missteps—sneaking into a shed guarded by a terrier, breaking into an import shop that reeks of cheap perfume, and getting lost in a hall of mirrors. As they uncover a real, if inept, smuggling operation peddling knockoff French goods, Albert’s wild theories about a villainous “Captain” seem laughably off-base.
But when a foggy night on the pier turns chaotic, Albert’s clumsiness—tripping over ropes and tangling smugglers in a fishing net—accidentally foils the gang. The police, tipped off by Dot, arrest the culprits, revealing the import shop owner as “The Captain,” not Harold. Hailed as a town hero, Albert basks in fleeting fame, though Dot keeps his ego in check. Back at his desk, sorting forms, Albert’s still dreaming of the next case, hinting at more misadventures to come.
