Cert 15 89mins Stars 3

Tune into this telly detective spoof, where the Bionic Man meets Bergerac.

Back in the 1980’s, Richard Thorncroft was the star of the TV crime series, Mindhorn. The ‘best plain clothes detective on Isle on Mann’ was equipped with a truth-reading cybernetic eye.

Thorncroft sees an opportunity to reignite his career when he’s roped in by the real police to help solve a murder.

Relying heavily on nostalgia for TV shows which are probably best forgotten, too many scenes drift, and jokes about acting auditions are funnier for the cast than the audience.

However, Julian Barratt is a paragon of deluded middle age as Thorncroft. It’s a consummate performance in the vein of Steve Coogan’s failed sportcaster, Alan Partridge.

Coogan is part of an impressive cast which sees cameos from Kenneth Branagh and Simon Callow.

The design looks suitably cheap and the films one joke is milked relentlessly, albeit with energy, conviction, and occasionally laughter.