RIOTOUS comedy comes to Weymouth this week courtesy of the town's drama club.

Inspector Drake and the Perfekt Crime is a police pastiche along the lines of Inspector Clouseau and the madcap Airplane film.

Who is the mysterious Doctor Short, and why did he marry a warthog?

Has he murdered his fourth wife or did she murder him first? And perhaps most importantly of all, why is there a lamppost in the living room?

These are just some of the questions facing the world's most famous private eye as he gropes for the answer to the perfect crime, groping some of the suspects along the way.

"It has been a blast to put together, more Inspector Clouseau than An Inspector Calls," said director Deborah Walton. "The cast have worked really hard and are doing so well.

"It is such a funny play that I am still laughing at rehearsals - which says something when you think we have been rehearsing since July."

The main players in the production are Richard Grafton, in the title role, playing alongside Derek Sawtell as Sergeant Plod and Colin Clare as the sinister Dr Short.

The daughters (both called Sabrina) are played by two relative newcomers to the club, Ellen Jacobs and Nicky Fox-Robinson.

"Richard Grafton in particular is barely off the stage," said Deborah.

"He had to learn his lines straight away to get them under his belt because there were simply so many to memorise.

"His role is pretty full-on and he and Derek Sawtell work so well together."

This is not the first time that Deborah has been at the helm of a Weymouth Drama Club show.

In 1998 she directed Billy Liar at Weymouth Pavilion and three years ago she directed Unoriginal Sin at the Warehouse Theatre.

"I had forgotten how challenging directing can be," she said. "Not because of the cast but because you are carrying the performance and people come and ask you all sorts of things.

"At the end of the day, things have to be right, otherwise the audience wouldn't enjoy it and they would be able to pick up on the things that are wrong."

Inspector Drake and the Perfekt Crime is at the Warehouse Theatre, Hope Street, Weymouth from Thursday to Saturday, October 18 to 20 and from Thursday to Saturday, October 25 to 27.

Performances are at 7.30pm each evening and tickets, priced at £7, are available from the theatre box office on 01305 750050.