Actor Richard Thorncroft is best known for playing Detective Bruce Mindhorn, a detective with the power to see truth with a cybernetic eye, in the cult 1980s television showMindhorn. Twenty-five years later, on the Isle of Man, where Mindhorn was filmed, police hunt an escaped lunatic, Paul Melly, wanted for murder. Melly says he will only speak to Detective Mindhorn, not realising that Mindhorn is fictional. Richard is now washed up and reduced to making a living by advertising embarrassing products. Hoping to boost his career, he returns to the Isle of Man to help the case but irritates the local constabulary with his arrogance. Melly's scheduled call to the police station leads to a meeting with Melly, culminating in Melly's arrest. Richard sets out to reconnect with his Mindhorn co-star Patricia, but discovers she is living with his former stuntman Clive, and with her daughter Jasmine. Another of his Mindhorn co-stars, Pete Eastman, now stars in a successful spin-off series. Pete invites Richard around with the promise of a DVD release of Mindhorn, only to mock him for his failings. Dejected, Richard takes cocaine with his former manager Moncrieff, and is detained after a night of drunken antisocial behaviour and dropped by his agent. Waiting for his ferry home, Richard opens fan mail, and realises that the letters are from Melly. They include a videotape revealing that the murder was committed by the mayor. Richard shows the tape to Moncrieff, who proposes using the tape to blackmail the mayor. He refuses to give the tape back, but appears to concede after a brief altercation. Richard meets Melly and the police, but discovers that Moncrieff has swapped the tape. Moncrieff independently attempts to blackmail the mayor but is killed by DC Baines, who is the mayor's niece and part of the conspiracy. Melly and Richard escape to Melly's secret lair, which is filled with Mindhorn merchandise and homemade espionage equipment. Melly equips Richard with an extensive Mindhorn outfit and explains that he has a copy of the tape in the classic car used in Mindhorn. Richard and Melly escape Baines when Melly throws defective Mindhorn-brand truth powder merchandise in her face. At Patricia and Clive's house, Richard finds that Clive has taken the classic car to the local parade. Patricia learns that Clive has been hiding letters to Patricia from Richard. Richard, Melly and Patricia intervene in the parade to retrieve the car, and are pursued by DC Baines to the beach. Richard discovers the second "copy" of the tape is just a plasticine model Melly made. Melly is hit by a bullet and appears to die. Baines arrives, and appears to kill Patricia and injure Richard. Richard captures a confession from Baines on an old Mindhorn recorder belt that Melly had insisted he wear. The police arrive and Richard and Pat get up, having tricked Baines into using a gun filled with blanks. They prove Baines' and the mayor's roles in the murders with the tape. Richard then rescues Jasmine from Baines as she fires at him using a different gun, which he believes is also full of blanks. When told that he actually just narrowly dodged several live rounds, Richard collapses. After he recovers in hospital, Richard and Patricia get back together, Baines and the mayor are jailed, and Melly is found alive in his lair.
Cast
Julian Barratt as Richard Thorncroft, a washed up actor famous for playing Detective Bruce Mindhorn in the cult 1980s show Mindhorn.
Essie Davis as Patricia Deville, Richard's former co-star and lover turned local journalist on the Isle of Man.
Kenneth Branagh as Himself
Andrea Riseborough as Detective Sergeant Elena Baines, the lead investigator in the murder.
Steve Coogan as Peter Eastman, a fellow actor who played Thorncroft's doctor assistant Windjammer, which since had a successful spin-off.
Russell Tovey as Paul Melly, a 32-year old whose parents died in an accident when he was 9. Melly was watching an episode of Mindhorn at the time of the deaths, and has since gone insane and believes that Mindhorn is real.
Richard McCabe as Jeffrey Moncrieff, Richard's party-loving former manager and PR man, now a borderline drug-addict living in a caravan.
Harriet Walter as Richard's agent, who is reluctant to give him serious acting roles.
Jessica Barden as Jasmine, Patricia's twenty-year-old daughter. It is revealed that Jasmine is Peter Eastman's estranged daughter, although Richard mistakenly comes to believe that she is his.
Simon Callow as himself
Simon Farnaby as Clive Parnevik, Richard's stunt double on Mindhorn and later Patricia's lover.
