This Hammer production was a spin-off from the seven-episode BBC comedy series of the same name, which also starred Raymond Huntley as Mr Emanuel Holroyd – the proprietor of Holroyds, an old established firm of undertakers in the small town of Worsfield – and his two assistants Basil (Bill Fraser) and Percy (David Battley).
As the movie version opens, the trio are quietly burying Mr Grimthorpe (Dudley Foster), who – until this moment – had been Holroyds’ only competitor in the town. Now, they have the field (or rather, the cemetery) to themselves.
They feel they must celebrate their good fortune at the Undertakers’ Annual Ball – however much it might look like dancing on Mr Grimthorpe’s grave.
Their nocturnal cavortings might have laid them low, but with the morning’s resurrection comes some perfectly appalling news – new competition!
A slick new company has moved into town, calling itself ‘The Haven of Rest’, complete with wall-to-wall carpeting, Chapel of Rest, discreetly-piped organ music, and unobtrusive air conditioning.
Even more gloom than usual descends upon the Holroyd funeral parlour. Trade begins to drop like a coffin into a grave.
What’s to be done? What dark deeds are afoot among the rival body-snatchers?
The crux of the plot – about mixed-up bodies and drug smugglers – is far too obvious and simplistic to sustain the running time, so all the viewer is left with is a rather good cast of familiar faces from British television comedy who do their very best but are unable to do much with the lame dialogue.
Despite fine guest appearances from Roy Kinnear, Richard Wattis, Frank Thornton, Bob Todd, and Michael Robbins, the film performed poorly at the box office.
Basil Bulstrode
Bill Fraser
Emmanuel Holroyd
Raymond Huntley
Percy
David Battley
Eugene Soul
Dennis Price
Roland Smallbody
John Ronane
Simmonds
Richard Wattis
Miss Peach
Sue Lloyd
Purvis
Roy Kinnear
Pusher
Eric Barker
Window Dresser
Hugh Paddick
Grimthorpe
Dudley Foster
First Funeral Director
Peter Copley
Second Funeral Director
Michael Robbins
Railway Porter
Ken Parry
Town Clerk
Frank Thornton
Arthur (Railway Porter)
Michael Ripper
Lord Lieutenant
Geoffrey Sumner
Mayor
John Sharp
Arthur (Funeral Director)
Bob Todd
Parson
George Howe
Witherspoon
Clifford Mollison
Jenkins
Tommy Mann
Council Chairman
Michael Segal
Butler
George Roderick
Grimthorpe’s Driver
Stacy Davies
Director
John Robins
Video
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