# Two Way Stretch
**Two Way Stretch** (also styled **Two-Way Stretch**) is a 1960 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Robert Day, in which three prison inmates break out of jail the night before their release, carry out a diamond robbery, and break back in before anyone notices, giving themselves a perfect alibi[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7925107b-1b46-59c5-8284-ae1ed66e05fd/two-way-stretch) • [2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/). It stars [Peter Sellers](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-sellers) as the criminal "mastermind" Dodger Lane, with [Wilfrid Hyde-White](https://www.edgepedia.org/wilfrid-hyde-white), Maurice Denham, Lionel Jeffries, David Lodge, and [Bernard Cribbins](https://www.edgepedia.org/bernard-cribbins)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7925107b-1b46-59c5-8284-ae1ed66e05fd/two-way-stretch).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Robert Day; screenplay by John Warren, Len Heath, and Alan Hackney, with additional dialogue by Vivian Cox[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [3](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Two-Way_Stretch) |
| Lead cast | Peter Sellers (Dodger Lane), David Lodge (Jelly Knight), Bernard Cribbins (Lennie Price), Wilfrid Hyde-White (Soapy Stevens), Maurice Denham (the Governor), Lionel Jeffries (Chief P.O. Crout)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twoway-stretch) • [5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/twowaystretch/) |
| Plot | The trio break out of H.M. Prison Huntleigh the night before release, steal around £2 million in diamonds in transit to a maharajah, and return to their cell for a watertight alibi[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [6](https://www.timeout.com/movies/two-way-stretch) |
| Production | Shepperton Productions; producer E.M. Smedley-Aston; distributed by British Lion; black and white, 1.66:1[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [7](https://kinolorber.com/film/two-way-stretch) |
| Running time | 87 minutes per the BFI and TCM; the BBFC classified the cinema version at 84m 26s[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7925107b-1b46-59c5-8284-ae1ed66e05fd/two-way-stretch) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/245829/two-way-stretch) • [9](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/two-way-stretch-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynjq3ndc) |
| UK release | 26 January 1960 per the British Comedy Guide; another source gives 11 February 1960[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [3](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Two-Way_Stretch) |
| Working title | *Nothing Barred*, a title later given to another British Lion film[10](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/two-way-stretch-kino-2025-bd) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Dodger Lane (Peter Sellers), Jelly Knight (David Lodge), and Lennie Price (Bernard Cribbins) are Cockney inmates serving a three-year sentence for robbery at Huntleigh Prison[5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/twowaystretch/). As trusted prisoners under a reform-minded governor (Maurice Denham) who cares more about competitive marrow growing than discipline, they live comfortably, with milk, eggs, and newspapers delivered through their perimeter-wall cell window, a stash of contraband, and access to the prison cat, Strangeways[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [11](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/two-way-stretch-1960-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson).
With only days left of the sentence, their old partner Soapy Stevens (Wilfrid Hyde-White) visits disguised as a vicar and proposes a scheme: break out the night before their official release, rob a consignment of diamonds worth around £2 million while the jewels are escorted by the army through London to a maharajah, and slip back into the cell so that the men are demonstrably behind bars when the theft is discovered[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/twowaystretch/). The plan is jeopardized when the easygoing chief prison officer Jenkins (George Woodbridge) retires and is replaced by the hard-nosed disciplinarian Sidney Crout ([Lionel Jeffries](https://www.edgepedia.org/lionel-jeffries)), who knows the trio and watches them closely[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twoway-stretch) • [5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/twowaystretch/).
## Production
The film was written by John Warren, Len Heath, and Alan Hackney, with additional dialogue credited to Vivian Cox, and produced by E.M. Smedley-Aston for Shepperton Productions, with distribution by British Lion[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [3](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Two-Way_Stretch). Geoffrey Faithfull was the cinematographer, Bert Rule the editor, and Ken Jones composed the music[3](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Two-Way_Stretch). It was shot in black and white at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1[7](https://kinolorber.com/film/two-way-stretch).
Filming took place at [Shepperton Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/shepperton-studios) and on location at Windsor & Eton Central station[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/). The railway database entry records that the robbery itself, in which Sellers uses a steam crane to lift the jewel van, was filmed at the junction of Dawney Hill with Gole Road in Brookwood, Surrey, and that a sequence with Cribbins carrying the loot along a train roof was shot on the closed Pulborough–Midhurst line in [West Sussex](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-sussex)[12](https://railwaymoviedatabase.com/two-way-stretch/).
The [British Board of Film Classification](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-board-of-film-classification) passed the cinema version, at 84m 26s, on 8 January 1960 for distributor British Lion Film Corp Ltd, certifying it U with "very mild sexual innuendo and language"[9](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/two-way-stretch-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynjq3ndc). Sources differ on the exact UK release date: the British Comedy Guide gives Tuesday 26 January 1960, while the Goon Show Depository lists 11 February 1960[2](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/) • [3](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Two-Way_Stretch). In the United States it was released on 23 January 1961[13](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0054417/).
## Cast and performances
Sellers plays Dodger Lane as a restrained comic lead. The [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies) essay notes that, in a film full of sight gags and double entendres, Sellers uses no disguise, funny voice, or pratfall, and that his comedic restraint is balanced by the character actors around him[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/245829/two-way-stretch). Reviewers repeatedly single out the supporting cast: Lionel Jeffries as the humiliated prison officer Crout, Wilfrid Hyde-White as the bogus vicar, and cameos from Irene Handl as Lennie's overbearing mother, [Liz Fraser](https://www.edgepedia.org/liz-fraser) as Dodger's girlfriend Ethel, and Beryl Reid[7](https://kinolorber.com/film/two-way-stretch) • [5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/twowaystretch/) • [11](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/two-way-stretch-1960-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson).
Although billed as a "Peter Sellers film", the movie works as an ensemble piece; even inside Dodger's cell he is one of a trio, and the Eye for Film review calls it character-driven comedy of a kind the reviewer finds rare in recent decades[11](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/two-way-stretch-1960-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson).
## Reception and legacy
1960 was a busy year for Sellers: TCM counts Two Way Stretch as one of four of his films released that year[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/245829/two-way-stretch). A 1977 TV Times feature paired it with *The Wrong Arm of the Law* (1962), which reunited Sellers, Jeffries, and Cribbins, and called the two films the height of Sellers' British comedies[14](https://mcmweb.co.uk/tvtimes/1977/Aug%206th%201977%20NFPA.pdf). The Guardian later described it as "funny, clever, ensemble British acting at its best"[15](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/aug/12/features).
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer score of 73 percent from 6 critic reviews, with over 500 audience ratings[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twoway-stretch). Critics have been divided: Time Out called it "reliably amusing stuff" with a tight narrative and a raft of top British character actors[6](https://www.timeout.com/movies/two-way-stretch), while Dennis Schwartz graded it C+ and called it "easily forgettable"[5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/twowaystretch/).
**Comparison with Porridge.** British reviewers have often noted the film's resemblance to the 1970s BBC sitcom *Porridge*: a relaxed prison regime, an ineffectual governor, and, once Crout arrives, a hard-line officer who resembles [Fulton Mackay](https://www.edgepedia.org/fulton-mackay)'s Mr MacKay. [The Blueprint](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-blueprint) review suggests it is hard to believe the sitcom's creators, Dick Clement and [Ian La Frenais](https://www.edgepedia.org/ian-la-frenais), were not influenced by it[16](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2025/07/peter-sellers-double-bill-two-way-stretch-heavens-above/) • [11](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/two-way-stretch-1960-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson).
## Restoration and home video
A new 4K restoration screened at BFI Southbank in August 2025 as part of the season "In Character: The Films of Peter Sellers", paired with the world premiere of the restored 1957 short *Insomnia Is Good For You*, directed by Leslie Arliss, in which Sellers plays salesman Hector Dimwittie[17](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/article/two-way-stretch). The film has since been released on Blu-ray with bonus features including an audio commentary and a behind-the-scenes stills gallery[18](https://www.film-news.co.uk/review/UK/6242/Home-Ent/Two-Way-Stretch). In the United States it streams on the BFI Player Amazon Channel and on Mometu[19](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/two-way-stretch/1037040/where-to-watch/).
## References
1. [Two Way Stretch (1960), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7925107b-1b46-59c5-8284-ae1ed66e05fd/two-way-stretch)
2. [Two Way Stretch, British Comedy Guide](https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/two_way_stretch/)
3. [Two-Way Stretch, The Goon Show Depository](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Two-Way_Stretch)
4. [Two Way Stretch, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twoway-stretch)
5. [Two Way Stretch, Dennis Schwartz Reviews](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/twowaystretch/)
6. [Two-Way Stretch, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/two-way-stretch)
7. [Two Way Stretch, Kino Lorber](https://kinolorber.com/film/two-way-stretch)
8. [Two-Way Stretch, Turner Classic Movies (Emily Soares, 2009)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/245829/two-way-stretch)
9. [Two Way Stretch, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/two-way-stretch-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynjq3ndc)
10. [Two-Way Stretch (Blu-ray Review), The Digital Bits](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/two-way-stretch-kino-2025-bd)
11. [Two Way Stretch (1960) review, Eye for Film (Amber Wilkinson)](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/two-way-stretch-1960-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson)
12. [Two-Way Stretch, British Railway Movie Database](https://railwaymoviedatabase.com/two-way-stretch/)
13. [Two Way Stretch, IMDbPro](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0054417/)
14. [TV Times, 6 August 1977](https://mcmweb.co.uk/tvtimes/1977/Aug%206th%201977%20NFPA.pdf)
15. [A turn for the screws, The Guardian (2001)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/aug/12/features)
16. [Peter Sellers Double Bill: Two-Way Stretch & Heavens Above!, Blueprint: Review (Andy Goulding, 2025)](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2025/07/peter-sellers-double-bill-two-way-stretch-heavens-above/)
17. [Two Way Stretch, BFI Southbank programme](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/article/two-way-stretch)
18. [Two Way Stretch review, Film-News.co.uk](https://www.film-news.co.uk/review/UK/6242/Home-Ent/Two-Way-Stretch)
19. [Two-Way Stretch where to watch, Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/two-way-stretch/1037040/where-to-watch/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1960s films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license