Writer-directors Keith Allen and Peter Richardson revive their characters Bonehead and Foyle from the 1984 Comic Strip film The Bullshitters, which was itself a parody of The Professionals.

As in the previous film, Bonehead and Foyle attach great importance to guns, witty one-liners and self-conscious efforts at looking un-self-consciously good on-screen.

They manoeuvre and park their car – a Ford Capri, as used in The Professionals – with almost exclusive use of handbrake turns, and during the film's climax they concentrate on seeking out piles of boxes to drive through or puddles to splash through, in order to make their shots appear more dynamic.

Peter Wyngarde, interviewed on BBC TV when this episode was originally transmitted, was flattered by the parody but insisted that Jason King would never wear crushed velvet.

TV detectives of the 1990s are principally represented on-screen by Dave Spanker, played by Phil Cornwell and based on the eponymous lead character from Spender.

Allen's "on-screen" Gourmet Detective character is the epitome of politically correct "new man" compassion, but the actor "off-screen" is shown to be an obnoxious, drug-taking womaniser.

The police commander (played by Jim Carter) is exasperated that the detective assigned to the case, Dave Spanker, has come up with much "Northern nostalgia" but no leads.

Cheesecloth and the footprint of a 1970s platform shoe are found at the scene, inspiring him to bring in 1970s-style detectives to help solve the crime – initially Bonehead, Foyle and George.

The repeated handbrake-turns wreck Foyle's gearbox and, in frustration at missing out on the car chase, Bonehead briefly considers leaving his partner.

Bonehead and Foyle – as is customary for them – remove their trousers for this final showdown, and then bemoan the Docklands redevelopment that has taken place since the 1970s: "where's all the wasteland and disused factories?".

Spanker complains that, with the increased realism in TV detective shows, he has missed out on the fast cars and the "shoot a man at a hundred yards crap" enjoyed by his 1970s counterparts.

He has his scruffy hair cut to a regulation police constable's length, in order to take his place as "a faceless copper in uniform – three nights a week".