DEATH ON THE TYNE

UK, 2018, 87 minutes, Colour.

Johnny Vargas, Sion Gibson, Tony Gardner, Don Gilet, Georgie Glen, Sue Johnston, Sheila Reid, Doon Mackichan, Felicity Montagu, James Fleet.

Directed by Ed Bye.

This is the second in a trilogy of murder mysteries featuring Johnny Vargas and Sion Gibson. Murder on the Blackpool Express the first, Dial M for Middlesbrough the third.

Movies and television have reminded us of the various levels of comedy in the British repertoire. In fact, there have been some brilliant comic personalities in screen presence, performance, verbal dexterity, wit, a worldwide reputation.

On the other hand, thinking of the range of broad comedies, geared especially to the popular television audience, they are pretty straightforward, not particularly subtle, enjoyment for the moment.

This series has been compared by some to the Carry On films. When they first appeared in the 1950s, the Carry On films were very popular but dismissed by many as too lowbrow. But, time has been very kind in the reassessment of the Carry On films and the talent of their casts.

Probably not so for this film. The characters are more or less as expected, talk and behave directly, not much nuance or subtlety. Johnny Vargas and Sion Gibson own a tour agency, not many customers, here just three elderly ladies, all set for a ferry trip from Newcastle to Amsterdam. They have a secret – which involves their inheriting a great deal of money from a dead friend.

The other characters are the range of people found on the ferry, the captain, his assistant about to take over, his fiancee the ship’s entertainer, her lover smuggling himself on board, and the manager of the passengers.

Some deaths, the unmasking of the unlikely killer, some silly complications with the elderly ladies and the death of one of them (by mistake!), Attempts at detection, some comic moments, many corny moments, an 87 minutes’ rather lowbrow British entertainment.