History Main / TheInspectorIsComing

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder:Radio]]

* The plot of ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'' episode "An Inspector Calls" revolves around a visit by the Southern Area Inspector. Brittas is concerned due to the abysmally low attendence figures and his case is not helped by him greeting the inspector [[ItMakesSenseInContext covered in eagle blood]]. Luckily for Brittas, the Southern Area Inspector turns out to be just like him (believes in ''the dream'',more interested in cleanliness and noticeboards than attendence figures etc) so he doesn't get fired.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', two inspectors visit at the same time. The plot mainly focuses on Anton Ego, an infamous restaurant critic whose previous review has already cost the restaurant one of its Michelin star ratings. But while Remy and the other rats are preparing the food, a health inspector shows up unannounced. In the end, Anton Ego is very satisfied with the food and gives the restaurant a good review, but the health inspector [[RealityEnsues has the restaurant closed down]] because of the rodent infestation.

HilarityEnsues if someone unrelated gets [[MistakenForSpecialGuest mistaken for the inspector]]. For the domestic variation, see HouseInspection. In military settings, see the subtrope TheInquisitorGeneral, while police settings will have InternalAffairs.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': a health inspector visits the boys while they're working at Burger World.

** It is, by the way. "Formidablé" is french for "great."

* In one ''[[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Donald Duck]]'' story, the restaurant where Donald works expects a visit from a restaurant inspector. When a man dressed in a fancy suit arrives, Donald suspects him to be the inspector and goes to great lenghts to please the man, all while inconveniencing and ignoring another guest. Eventually, that other guest is revealed to be the real inspector, who by now is so fed up by Donald's antics and the poor services that he takes away ''all'' of the restaurants stars, and the man in the suit turns out to be just a traveling salesman.

* ''Film/TheInspectorGeneral'' is a Creator/DannyKaye movie, in which a vagrant is arrested in a small European town, and is mistakenly believed to be an inspector from the crown. It's based on the below-mentioned play, ''The Government Inspector''.

* ''Film/OceansThirteen'': The crew makes [[MistakenForSpecialGuest Willy Bank think that Saul is a hotel reviewer]], causing Willy to bend over backwards to make Saul's stay as comfortable as possible while being completely dismissive of the ''actual'' reviewer. Meanwhile, the rest of Ocean's crew proceed to make the real reviewer's stay an absolute ''hell''. [[spoiler: They ThrowTheDogABone after Willy is ruined by rigging a machine to give the reviewer eleven million dollars.]]
* In the opening scenes of ''Film/MyBestFriendsWedding'', the staff of a restaurant fuss over a single dish because a food critic, the protagonist herself, is in the house.

* One ''Literature/{{Jennings}}'' plot involves a visit by a school inspector. Various of the pupils, having got the wrong end of the stick, believe that the visitor is a gas inspector or a ticket inspector.
* RecycledInSpace with ''Allamagoosa'' by Eric Frank Russell. The crew of a spaceship are informed that the Head Inspector will be turning up, and are thrown into a panic because their ship's manifest lists an "offog" among the ship components, and no-one knows what it is. They avert the crisis by building a box with blinking lights and throwing a load of TechnoBabble at the inspector when he asks what the offog does. Then they're told the ship is returning to Earth for a complete overhaul. Knowing the same trick won't work on the engineers carrying out this task, they send a message claiming the offog exploded under gravitational stress. Unfortunately the offog turns out to be a typo for "off. dog" (e.g. the ship's mascot), and all ships are grounded until the problem of how dogs can explode in space is rectified.

* In ''Series/TheNanny'' episode "The Butler, the Husband, the Wife and Her Mother", Niles is anticipating the arrival of inspectors of the Professional Butler's Association to determine whether he's qualified to join. Unfortunately, Fran's mother Sylvia is trying to impress their in-laws by telling them that Fran's married to Maxwell Sheffield, and with Maxwell out at the time they arrive, Fran makes Niles pretend he's Maxwell. Worse, the inspectors arrive to evaluate Niles' performance. When Maxwell returns, Maxwell has to pretend he's Niles.

* ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'': a "rich" socialite from back home comes to visit the Clampetts, with the Hidden Agenda of trying to [[GoldDigger marry Jed for his money]]. She gives the place the once over.
-->'''Adeline''': I just wanted to see where some of these things is from. I see most of 'em is from France and England.
-->'''Granny''': That's good, isn't it?
-->'''Adeline''': Not to me. All my stuff comes from much further away than that. It's [[MadeInCountryX made in Japan]].
* Often ''very'' subverted and inverted on ''Series/KitchenNightmares''. Despite the fact these owners know that Gordon Ramsey is coming by with a full camera crew to have them on national television, they still will have some of the single most disgusting kitchens imaginable. More than once, Gordon has found the kitchen and food storage in such horrific conditions that he's ordered the entire place shut down for a massive clean-up.
** Of all places, the infamous Amy's Baking Company actually ''did'' clean up first to the point Gordon noted it was the cleanest kitchen he'd ever seen on the show. Too bad the owners were absolute lunatics with horrific food, treatment of staff and egos that drove Gordon to just quit on them.
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' has an episode with the lab being inspected. She can't find a lot of faults but does fault Lindsay for leaving evidence out and endangering the chain of custody because Danny, er, distracted her. She also flirts a bit with Mac, reminding him of a time before his wife died when they got a little drunk and kissed at a party. Mac admits he didn't exactly hate it, but is firm that he loved his wife and would never have gone any further.

* The ''Series/Car54WhereAreYou'' episode "Toody and Muldoon Crack Down" is set in motion by a visit to the 53rd precinct by a chief inspector, who is outraged at the number of minor violations (sidewalk obstructions, unauthorised loudspeakers, etc.) that Toody and Muldoon are allowing to go unpunished. He quickly changes his tune when he discovers that although their sector is rife with minor violations, there have been no major crimes in their sector in the nine years they've been patrolling it, and that they are near universally beloved by the local residents and business owners as friendly, helpful, and reliable.
* ''Series/GrangeHill'' naturally had at least one story arc featuring the dreaded [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofsted OFSTED]] paying the school a visit.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'': at the end of Season 5, Greendale Community College is visited by a fastidious insurance appraiser. Somewhat subverted to the extent that the school ''does'' pass the test... which triggers a crisis since it is now deemed a bona fide asset and the board decides to make a profit by selling it off.
* ''Series/{{Northern Exposure}}'' has a youthful inspector visit Holling Vincoeur's restaurant. He seems nice at first... until he recalls gleefully how he once brought down ''his own father's restaurant''.
* ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' had a variation with the fire chief coming. This usually means the station is going to be inspected, and Captain Stanley drove the crew nuts with his paranoia and wanting everything in tip-top shape before the chief got there.
* This is how Dominic is introduced in ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'' by posing as Health Inspector Fuller to gain access to the kitchen where he reunites with an old friend, RJ.
* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Reprise", the evil OccultLawFirm Wolfram & Hart is awaiting a visit from a Senior Partner. Every employee of Wolfram & Hart knows that this being is an [[TheDreaded extremely terrifying demon]], and interprets the situation with the understanding that [[BadBoss a bad performance rating would mean certain death]].

* ''Theatre/TheInspectorGeneral'' by Creator/NikolaiGogol is the TropeMaker for the MistakenForSpecialGuest variety. Corrupt local government officials panic when they hear there's an inspector in town, but the guy they suspect of being him is a case of mistaken identity. And yes, the real inspector is on the way.

* The ''Open for Business'' expansion pack for ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' lets you become [[AnEntrepreneurIsYou a business owner]]. Once in a while a writer will come in and inspect your business, and depending on the state that it's in, will either give you a positive or negative review, affecting your business accordingly. You can do positive interactions and improve the environment to increase your chances of a good review. Bad interactions with either you, your staff, or other customers will make it more likely for them to write a negative one.
* One of ''VideoGame/HarryTheHandsomeExecutive'''s assignments is to destroy all traces of a dangerous substance invented by [=ScumCo=] R&D before the health inspector arrives.

* ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'': Has had two episodes dealing with inspectors during their abridged version of "The Equestria Games" arc. This includes the same episode below in the original show and the latest episode Keep It Clean.

* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'': one episode the Shore Shack is visited by an inspector, who lowers the shack's rating because Raymundo uses a surf board as an improvised lid for the trash cans outside.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In one episode, a health inspector visits the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs and Spongebob "kill" him with a bad Krabby Patty (thinking he was the fake inspector mentioned on TV) and try to bury him, but he's still alive.
** In another episode, the Krusty Krab gets a visit from a prominent food critic. Despite everyone's best efforts, the critic dislikes everything there, except for [=SpongeBob=], which leads to Mr. Krabs going overboard with making everything [=SpongeBob=]-themed, down to serving rotten patties that look yellow and spongy.
* The very first episode of ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' has this plot. The health inspector, Hugo, becomes a recurring SitcomArchnemesis determined to shut down the restaurant because he's jealous of Bob's marriage to Linda.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The beginning of "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back".
* On ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'', the club is expecting a critic. Mortimer is mistaken for the critic and takes advantage of Mickey's hospitality.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Stoked}}'': "The Very Very Very Very Very Important Guest" is about the resort expecting the arrival of a well-known hotel reviewer.

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Games Ponies Play" revolves around an inspector coming to evaluate the Crystal Empire's worthiness to host the Equestria Games. The Mane Six mistake a random tourist for the inspector for carrying a similar bag and do everything they can to impress her, while the ''real'' inspector is left waiting and has a less than hospitable stay. Eventually the tourist and inspector meet up in a spa where the tourist chats about the wonderful time she had, which convinces the inspector to pass the empire.
** A rare case of this happening with a ''school'' happens in the "School Daze" two-parter. In order for Twilight's new "School of Friendship" to be fully accredited by the EEA, Chancellor Neighsay has to visit it to ensure it conforms to EEA standards. Unfortunately, Twilight's obsession with doing everything "by the book" ends up stifling and stressing both the teachers(her friends) and the students, to the point where several students decide to skip class on the day Neighsay is scheduled to arrive. On top of that, it turns out Neighsay is a FantasticRacist, who dislikes the fact that the school is open to non-ponies and consequently shuts it down.[[note]]Though he also cites unqualified teachers as a reason why he's shutting it down, [[StrawmanHasAPoint which is harder to argue against]].[[/note]] In the end, Twilight decides that her school doesn't have to be accredited and reopens it without Neighsay's approval.
* This happens numerous times on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in various forms. The nuclear plant has gotten many surprise inspections, including one in which Homer manages to botch a test so badly that [[EpicFail he melts down a van despite there being no nuclear material in it]]. Moe Szyslak gets visited by a health inspector which he knows well...except he dies there. When the new inspector comes, Moe hasn't even cleaned up the body of the previous health inspector.

* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' has an episode where Bob (the manager of the hotel where Taz is working) expects a hotel critic. Unfortunately, he mistakes WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn for said critic (their names are similar). The mistake isn't discovered until the end of the episode, at which point Taz is ''very'' eager to follow Bob's order to stop Leghorn's hiccups by scaring him.
* Happens twice to A. Nigma High School in ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}''. Both times, Principal General Barrage goes to great lengths to pass, even threatening to cancel the school dance the second time if they don't make it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E9LiveItUpTonight Live It Up Tonight]]", Mayor Whitebottom sends an auditor named Anita to do a surprise audit to see if she can find any dirt on Owen and she came close to getting Owen fired because Elwood threw away a receipt.

* ''The Inspector General'' is a Creator/DannyKaye movie, in which a vagrant is arrested in a small European town, and is mistakenly believed to be an inspector from the crown. It's based on the below-mentioned play, ''The Government Inspector''.
* The old Polish comedy ''Gangsters and Philantropists'' featured a story about a hapless lab technician who accidentally takes a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer hydrometer]] with him after leaving work. He goes to a restaurant, orders a drink and absentmindedly starts stirring the drink with the hydrometer. The restaurant manager sees this and thinks that the guy is a government inspector testing if the restaurant is watering its drinks. As the protagonist is leaving the restaurant he is handed an envelope with money as a bribe to not report the restaurant. Once he figures out what happened he starts regularly going to restaurants with lab instruments and supplements his income with the bribe money. Later he resorts to weighing steaks once the alcohol amounts prove to be too much.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E9LiveItUpTonight Live It Up Tonight]]", Mayor Whitebottom sends an auditor named Anita to do a surprise audit to see if see she can find any dirt on Owen and she came close to getting Owen fired because Elwood threw away a receipt.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' had two inspectors at the same time. The plot mainly focuses on Anton Ego, an infamous restaurant critic whose review already cost the restaurant one of its star ratings. But while Remy and the other rats are preparing the food, a health inspector shows up unannounced. In the end Anton Ego is very satisfied with the food and gives the restaurant a good review, but the health inspector has the restaurant closed down because of the rodent infestation.

HilarityEnsues if someone unrelated gets [[MistakenForSpecialGuest mistaken for the inspector]]. Compare HouseInspection. In military settings, see the subtrope TheInquisitorGeneral, while police settings will have InternalAffairs.

* In ''Toys/TheGrosseryGang'', mentions of the health inspector's rating of the Yucky Mart have been brought up. The convenience store has an ''F'' rating.

* ''Film/OceansThirteen'', the crew makes [[MistakenForSpecialGuest Willy Bank think that Saul is a hotel reviewer]], causing Willy to bend over backwards to make Saul's stay as comfortable as possible while being completely dismissive of the ''actual'' reviewer. Meanwhile, the rest of Ocean's crew proceed to make the real reviewer's stay an absolute ''hell''. [[spoiler: They ThrowTheDogABone after Willy is ruined by rigging a machine to give the reviewer eleven million dollars.]]

* In ''Film/OceansThirteen'', the crew makes [[MistakenForSpecialGuest Willy Bank think that Saul is a hotel reviewer]], causing Willy to bend over backwards to make Saul's stay as comfortable as possible while being completely dismissive of the ''actual'' reviewer.
** Meanwhile, the rest of Ocean's crew proceed to make the real reviewer's stay an absolute ''hell''. [[spoiler: They ThrowTheDogABone after Willy is ruined by rigging a machine to give the reviewer 11 million dollars.]]

* In the ''{{Angel}}'' episode "Reprise", the evil OccultLawFirm Wolfram & Hart is awaiting a visit from a Senior Partner. Every employee of Wolfram & Hart knows that this being is an [[TheDreaded extremely terrifying demon]], and interprets the situation with the understanding that [[BadBoss a bad performance rating would mean certain death]].

--> ''"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."''
-->-- '''Matthew 25:13'''

* ''WebOriginal/UltraFastPony'': Has had two episodes dealing with inspectors during their abridged version of "The Equestria Games" arc. This includes the same episode below in the original show and the latest episode Keep It Clean.

* In the {{Angel}} episode "Reprise," the evil OccultLawFirm Wolfram & Hart is awaiting a visit from a Senior Partner. Every employee of Wolfram & Hart knows that this being is an [[TheDreaded extremely terrifying demon]], and interprets the situation with the understanding that [[BadBoss a bad performance rating would mean certain death]].

* In the {{Angel}} episode "Reprise," the evil OccultLawFirm Wolfram & Hart is awaiting a visit from a Senior Partner, Every employee of Wolfram & Hart knows that this being is an [[TheDreaded extremely terrifying demon]], and interprets the situation with the understanding that [[BadBoss a bad performance rating would mean certain death]].

** Meanwhile, the rest of Ocean's crew proceed to make the real reviewer's stay an absolute ''hell''.

* RecycledInSpace with ''Allamagoosa'' by Eric Frank Russell. The crew of a spaceship are informed that the Head Inspector will be turning up, and are thrown into a panic because their ship's manifest lists a ''V1098. Offog, one'' among the ship components, and no-one knows what it is. They avert the crisis by building a box with blinking lights and throwing a load of TechnoBabble at the inspector when he asks what it does. Then they're told the ship is returning to Earth for a complete overhaul. Knowing the same trick won't work on the engineers carrying out this task, they send a message claiming the offog exploded under gravitational stress. Unfortunately the offog turns out to be a typo for "off. dog" (e.g. the ship's mascot), and all ships are grounded until the problem of how dogs can explode in space is rectified.