In cinemas nationwide Fri May 4 2017

After ten years in the conceptual oven, it’s finally time to stick a fork in Julian Barratt’s 80’s detective parody Mindhorn and unleash it onto the world. Clearly proud of his baby, Barratt does the unveiling himself in person at Edinburgh’s Cameo cinema with a short introduction followed up by an informal Q and A after the screening, during which he amply demonstrates his off-kilter but on-point sense of humour.

The film itself focuses on Richard Thorncroft, a washed-up actor whose one turn in the limelight came as a campy uber-cop in 80s detective series Mindhorn. Thorncroft used the success of the show to try and clamber the greasy pole to Hollywood stardom, gleefully insulting and trampling on all of his co-stars, long-term girlfriend and the entire population of the Isle of Man in the process.

Predictably, Thorncroft’s gamble went awry and the tragicomic figure was forced to return to the UK with tail firmly between his legs but delusions of self-important grandeur wholly intact. Twenty-five years on, he’s eking out a living advertising living aids for the elderly and overweight, frustrated at the dead end turn his life has taken. However, when an unhinged murderer calling himself “the Kestrel” demands to speak to DI Mindhorn (who he believes is a real entity), the stage is set for Thorncroft to make a glorious comeback.

Of course, the man’s intended manipulation of real-life tragedy as a springboard for his own career relaunch backfires spectacularly, and much of the comedy arises from his misplaced sense of superiority and entitlement, as well as from the Dutch stuntman who has married his old flame (hilariously played by co-writer Simon Farnaby, who finally steps out of the shadow of his colleagues with this brilliantly silly role).

Elsewhere, Essie Davis, Russell Tovey and Andrea Riseborough are competent members of the supporting cast, while there are memorable cameos from Steve Coogan, Simon Callow and Kenneth Branagh. Indeed, it’s unsurprising that Coogan is involved as Thorncroft is every bit the Isle of Man’s answer to Alan Partridge, though it seems that writing duties fell almost entirely to Barratt and Farnaby.

As a result, there’s plenty of kooky Boosh-like comedy mixed in with the straight-up pastiche of a detective genre that is crying out for ridicule – the pair duly oblige, and do so with just the right amount of silliness balanced with sophistication. As the plot reaches its farcical climax, the inanity of the action might seem over-the-top to some, but it serves as a fitting parody of a genre that almost seems a parody of itself.

The subsequent Q and A is an illuminating insight into the process of writing a first screenplay, as well as all manner of other things; Barratt takes the opportunity to muse on the subjects of wrestling with the money men, suicidal despair and the catchiness of 80’s theme tunes (though not necessarily in that order). But even without this delightful icing on the cake, Mindhorn is still very much a saccharine treat for the thinking man’s fan of mindless comedy.