One Foot In The Grave

Victor and Margaret accompany Mrs Warboys, who is hoping for romance with her pen pal Alfonso, on holiday to meet him in his native Portugal. Fleet Street paparazzo Martin Trout is hot on their tail after an encounter at Victoria station leads him to believe they have accidentally taken possession of an extremely valuable and politically explosive roll of film...

Victor, Margaret and Jean are looking forward to a holiday in the Portuguese sun so the recently divorced Mrs Warboys can meet - and, she hopes, strike up a romance with - her widowed pen pal, Alfonso. Meanwhile, top Fleet Street muck-raking photographer Martin Trout has just returned from the very same region where he's captured red-hot photographs of a senior figure in a very compromising position.

Colliding with the departing Meldrew party at Victoria station as he returns and they leave, he misplaces the film and gives chase - all the way back to the Algarve.

Having arrived in Portugal, the Meldrews and Mrs Warboys struggle to find their rented villa; Victor accidentally prostitutes Jean whilst practicing his rusty Portuguese; and they soon find themselves in trouble with the police, seemingly locked in a prison cell for days on end. They're horrified, therefore, to discover that the 'cell' is in fact a room in their decrepit holiday villa and the door has not been locked but simply stiff!

If that wasn't bad enough, it's not long before Jean goes missing and is feared dead in much the same way as Alfonso's first wife. As a search is mounted, Victor calls on the help of their neighbouring holidaymakers, a black British family, who find themselves caught up in further trouble as a result!

Following many hours of fretful confusion, the Meldrews and Mrs Warboys are eventually reunited, but when Jean realises Alfonso's wife's death was faked, their situation becomes altogether much more menacing.