The Wrong Arm of the Law

On the face of it, a TV-style comedy inspired by Ealing Studios, most notably The Lavender Hill Mob. But somehow Owen, the cast, and a large team of writers turn it into a very superior piece of work, with both an eye and an ear for dialogue and the absurd situation. Sellers, a smooth Bond Street couturier, is also the rough-diamond leader of a bunch of inept criminals. He keeps them happy with luncheon vouchers, home movies, and paid holidays in Spain. But their welfare state criminality is undermined by the arrival of a gang of Australians, forcing Scotland Yard to get its act together. Not only is it genuinely funny, it's also a sly portrait of Britain slowly emerging from the 'Never Had It So Good' days into the Wilson era.