Eric Barker ("Insp. Mills") is struggling to keep crime under control with three of his experienced officers down with the flu. Luckily, his streetwise sergeant "Wilkins" (Sid James) thinks he knows how to best manage the group of new recruits sent out to fill in the gaps. Big mistake, though, putting "Gorse" (Charles Hawtrey) in charge of the ops room - as if chaos wasn't already in the air anyway. I always thought these films worked best with James/Sims & Williams/Jacques doing their well established stuff - and for the most part here, that's what they do. Aside, though, I found Leslie Phillips and Kenneth Connor a bit too one-dimensional with their humour erring more on the side of charmless smut. Still, it's quickly paced, the writing is at the better end for the franchise and there are plenty of daft scenarios and double-entendres as it takes a kindly and gentle swipe at a police constabulary that has as many nutcases within as it has to deal with on the outside.
