Ian McShane plays the roguish antiques dealer Lovejoy, a "divvie" who can sense a genuine piece through the paint and lies. Based in Suffolk and filmed around Long Melford, the BBC series ran 71 episodes from 1986 to 1994, with a five-year pause after the first ten-episode run. Lovejoy addresses the camera directly, revealing both the mechanics of the trade and his own elastic morality, while Dudley Sutton's Tinker Dill supplies pub gossip and Chris Jury's Eric Catchpole provides muscle that is more enthusiastic than effective.
The supporting cast shifts like stock in a country auction. Phyllis Logan's Lady Jane Felsham drifts away after series five, replaced by Diane Parish as apprentice Beth Taylor and Caroline Langrishe as auctioneer Charlotte Cavendish, who becomes the new romantic foil. Malcolm Tierney's Charlie Gimbert, Lovejoy's landlord and auction-house nemesis, disappears for two series then returns to sneer at the rogues he can never outwit.
Each 50-minute episode follows a loose formula: a country house clearance, a suspicious heirloom, a looming deadline before the item vanishes into the London trade. The pleasure lies in watching McShane's smile widen as he spots the tell-tale dovetail or dents the silver, then hearing him murmur to the viewer while the mark counts out cash. The theme by Denis King, all jaunty brass and woodwind, signals that no one will be hurt too badly, only pride and bank balances dented.
Production Details
BBC One / 6 Seasons / 73 Episodes / 1986
Created by: Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash
Writer(s): Ian La Frenais, Terry Hodgkinson, Roger Marshall
Producer(s): Colin Shindler
Cinematography: Colin Case, Peter Chapman
Main Cast
Ian McShane as Lovejoy
Dudley Sutton as Tinker Dill
Chris Jury as Eric Catchpole
Phyllis Logan as Lady Jane Felsham
Malcolm Tierney as Charlie Gimbert
Caroline Langrishe as Charlotte Cavendish
Diane Parish as Beth Taylor
Pavel Douglas as Lord Alexander Felsham
Maggie Ollerenshaw as Kate Henshaw
Geoffrey Bateman as Dandy Jack
Eric Deacon as Det. Insp. Hardwick
Denys Graham as Bigelow
