very dull and laborious adaptation of amis amuse satire . the hero be portray not a a likeable loser but a merely oafish cretin . most of the rest be pure caricature with only helen mccrory put in real quality and provide something of the novel wit . the period setting be camp up a if it be the 1920s and not the post war period of horror comic and rockn roll . a real dud even by the standard of bad uk tv .