A Fitting Tribute is a 2007 British short film comedy-drama film directed by Daniel Cormack and starring Sally Bretton, Thomas Nelstrop and April Nicholson.

Plot

In flashback, Niall (Thomas Nelstrop), a local news reporter, recalls visiting his mother's grave, as he smartens up in a toilet mirror. His colleague Tammy (Sally Bretton) knocks on the toilet door to hurry him up and as they walk to the car she instructs him on the art of the 'death knock': knocking on the doors of the recently bereaved to obtain quotes and pictures of the deceased for the newspaper. Niall's poor track record has put his job on the line and Tammy has been detailed to improve his hit-rate. When they reach the house of Mrs Wright, who has lost her son in a car accident, Niall goes in first while Tammy waits outside. Before Niall can introduce himself and launch into his spiel that Tammy has prepared for him, Mrs Wright (April Nicholson) interrupts him – "I know who you are" – and ushers him into the house. There she ropes him into unstacking the dishwasher as Niall tries in vain to broach the subject of the bereavement against the sound of a fire alarm which has been set off by the cigarette Mrs Wright is smoking. Mrs Wright appears baffled by Niall's requests for pictures and instead offers him some soup telling him they will look at some pictures "in the morning", much to Niall's surprise. She then leads him upstairs to the bedroom and encourages him to get some rest. Trapped in the bedroom, Niall examines the dead boy's belongings and finds himself playing with his toys. Meanwhile, Tammy waits outside taking a phone call from her boss at the newspaper, to whom she explains that Niall "is still in there, so he must be doing alright". Whilst playing with a light sabre, Niall knocks off a shelf-load of items and as he picks them up, he finds a photo of the dead boy. Mrs Wright, alerted by the noise, appears behind him and embracing Niall, she tells him: "it's been a long day: time for bed." Tammy knocks at the door and attempts to talk to Mrs Wright about the accident in which her son was killed, but Mrs Wright replies that her son is in his room and that there must be some mistake. Closing the door, she is nonetheless shaken by Tammy's insistence that her son is dead and she climbs the stairs to the bedroom where she finds Niall tucked up fast asleep in her son's bed. She kisses him on the cheek and switches out the light.