A Small Bowler Hat

Brian Beatty’s two passions in life are his art gallery, supported by the wealthy Eddie Battersby, and silent comedy films. His family knew Stan Laurel, who is Brian’s idol. For all his perceived innocence, Brian is a master at attracting publicity, due to his habit of dressing up in the costumes of silent movie stars.

He seems wholly unaware of the plotting going on around him by two rival gallery owners, Angela Whyte and Ken Woodward, as well as Eddie’s wife, Tina. Angela’s property developer husband, Tony, also has his own interests in Brian’s gallery and contacts a wily hotelier and local councillor to get his hands on the building.

But as Angela and Ken pursue their separate plans, their relationships begin to unravel, while Tony finds dealing with the council far trickier than he’d anticipated. Despite his reluctance to have his wife run an art gallery, Eddie, after much scheming, comes up with a compromise.

Meanwhile, things intensify further when Brian passes away after a short illness, and two of his friends make a shocking discovery, uncovering what lies inside a locked wooden box.