British comic Norman Wisdom pulls a Peter Sellers and plays several different parts in this hilarious escapade.
The story centres on Norman Shields (Wisdom), a newspaper seller outside Westminster tube station whose grandfather (a thinly disguised Wisdom) just happens to be Prime Minister.
To wheedle a government post out of the old man, a crafty MP (Derek Bond) engages the grandson as a reporter on his newspaper in the seaside town of Tinmouth, only to see him turn every assignment – however minor – into a major disaster.
After causing chaos at a local council meeting and causing the demolition of a new house, Norman tries to organise a beauty pageant. In the process, he manages to captivate the woman mayor’s myopic daughter (Frances White) and, even more unaccountably, the sorely tried mayor herself (Noel Dyson).
At the outset, he combines with grandfather and grandson the roles of the boy’s mother and sister. After that, he is mainly just himself, dropping or smashing everything he touches and needing only one drink to set up convulsions of choking and hiccoughing.
A slapstick tale of corruption in high and low places.
Norman Shields/Sir Wilfred Shields/Emily
Norman Wisdom
Major Bartlett
Derek Bond
Eleanor
Angela Browne
Ruby Fairchild
Tracey Crisp
Ballard
Allan Cuthbertson
Mrs Corcoran
Noël Dyson
Alderman Corcoran
Derek Francis
Willoughby
Peter Jones
Mr Ross
David Lodge
Nottage
Stanley Unwin
Liz
Frances White
Marsh
Tony Selby
Granny Fork
Hazel Coppin
Mrs Doe Connor
Totti Truman Taylor
P.M.’s secretary
Toni Gilpin
Berman
George Roderick
Isobel
Jenny White
Director
Robert Asher