The Case of the Coughing Parrot

7.25pm 23rd November 1975

"Clanger...Clanger, that rings a bell"

"So I believe my Lord"

DVD UK

DVD US

24 min Colour

The Stars
	Jack Douglas Kenneth Connor Joan Sims David Lodge Sherrie Hewson Peter Butterworth Norman Chappell Brian Osbourne Johnny Briggs Vivienne Johnson	Lord Peter Flimsy Punter Dr Janice Crunbitt Inspector Bungler Irma Kline Lost Property Attendant Ambulance Driver Harry Norman Freda Filey

The Crew
Screenplay Producer Director	Dave Freeman Gerald Thomas Alan Tarrant

Synopsis

Perhaps the writer, Dave Freeman’s best foray into the Carry On milieu, using some wonderfully appaling jokes which are delivered with straight-faced sincerity by the crime-busting duo (Jack Douglas and Kenneth Connor).

Lord Peter Flimsy and Punter, his sidekick, encounter a world of unusual clues, vicars and tea, mad murderers and peeking through keyholoes. As you may have guessed, this is a comic take on the 1920’s world of Lord Peter Whimsy, mickey-taking everything from Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie. The characters that the Carry Oners play are stock Carry On performances but the dialogue is banal.

Jack and Kenneth play the main characters brilliantly, allowing the other characters played by Barbara, Joan and Peter Butterworth to bounce innuendo and smut around with great aplomb.

There is a good historical atmosphere about the mist-swirled streets of London and the posh country manors in this trilogy of tales (The Case Of The Screaming Winkles, The Case of the Coughing Parrot, and The Nine Old Cobblers)

The scenario for this comic vignette is an enjoyable one based around an infected bird and strange goings-on in the low life of the London docks. Joan Sims gets involved in a plot of stolen artefacts in a Margaret Rutherford type Museum Curator.