Credited cast: | |||
Joan Collins | ... | Margaret Rogerton-Sykes | |
Luke Goss | ... | Martin Dyer | |
Guy Siner | ... | Dr. Norman Wicksteed | |
Vas Blackwood | ... | The Pawnbroker | |
Martin Kemp | ... | Lee Leicester | |
Cathy Tyson | ... | Gilda | |
Ross O'Hennessy | ... | Mr. Gimpole | |
Kym Marsh | ... | Angie Dyer | |
Michelle Greenidge | ... | Purdy | |
Poppie Boyes | ... | Mimi (as Poppy Boyes) | |
Jon-Paul Gates | ... | Security Guard | |
Tony O'Callaghan | ... | Mr. Henderson | |
Lorna Fitzgerald | ... | Emmaline | |
Dillon Mitra | ... | Ike | |
Anete Balkena | ... | Georgie |
Martin Dyer is a very ordinary man with a very ordinary life. An insurance Loss Adjuster for many years, he spends his time assessing other people's problems and ignoring his own. His wife Angie aspires to greater things and when finances hit rock bottom, she leaves him for a suave loan shark one week before Christmas. Martin is crest fallen but forced into continuing his day by the overly exuberant company secretary, who has scheduled several claims for Martin to validate. With a heavy heart, Martin sets off but his day drastically goes from bad to worse with a catalogue of extraordinary and humorous encounters with a flirtatious and rather amorous widow, a corrupt Doctor, a lascivious female escort and a dead rat. It is only at the funeral of a client that Martin has an epiphany; and with the help of his unlikely friendship with a teenage thief and perhaps a sprinkling of Christmas magic, life suddenly changes in a truly remarkable way. Written by Jayney Mackie
The narrative structure of The Loss Adjustor has all the integrity of the Columbia space shuttle coming into land, and much like the ill-fated craft, finds itself staffed by many otherwise great talents with no escape and falling fast.
And that won't be the only laboured aviation metaphor you're in for if you make the mistake of watching this thing.
However, if you are going to watch this, (and I suggest you find something better to do with 100 minutes of your precious, finite time on Earth), at the very least don't buy it with money.
After all, as Abi Branning, (freed from the shackles of EastEnders yet apparently condemned to an eternal cycle of locking up a North London florists), says to the titular Loss Adjustor, "there is no dress rehearsal in life". And honestly, when it comes to this production, you assume that to be true in more ways than one.