Death By Fatal Murder, Broadstone Players, War Memorial Hall, Broadstone

ANYONE who has come across the hapless Inspector Pratt before will know that he's not so wrong when he introduces himself as Defective Inspector in this latest Peter Gordon comedy.

Once again he turns the murder-prone Bagshot House into something resembling a lunatic asylum as malapropisms litter his every conversation and bewilder everyone with whom he comes into contact, and it is a pleasure to see John Pemble so delightfully re-creating the character he has made his own. Don't take this the wrong way John, but you've made sheer stupidity into an art form.

While the plot is as silly as ever, I did feel in the final scene that the playwright may have over-egged the pudding this time, with more revelations and relations than an already confused person (it's that sort of plot!) could reasonably cope with.

Lyn Richell's direction keeps both pace and laughs flowing well, and her cast produce some wonderful characterisations, especially Bev Beck (Ginny Farquahar), Judy Garrett (Joan Maple), Tommy Egerton (Blodwyn Morgan) and Gary Paine (Constable Thomkins). There is strong support too from Emma Johnson (Nancy Allwright), Greig Blanden (Squadron Leader Allwright) and David Brown (Enzo Garibaldi).

Linda Kirkman