Lovejoy is a talented, but perpetually broke, antiques dealer who isn't above pulling some underhanded schemes for the greater good, even if that greater good is putting a few more pounds in his pocket. The show starts off with the small company getting a new assistant in Eric Catchpole (Chris Jury), and we start to see what should be the boring world of antiques through his new eyes as something darker and more treacherous. Lovejoy's other employee is Tinker (Dudley Sutton), a barker that Lovejoy uses to get an early look at auctions and estate sales and, of course, to use in the occasional scheme. While Eric and Tinker are major aspects of Lovejoy Antiques, the company wouldn't have the reputation it does without the owner. Lovejoy himself has a reputation of being a "divvie," a person with the strange ability to divine actual antiques from fakes with almost no effort.
So how is it that Lovejoy, with his special gift, finds himself in constant debt? Well for one, he has an ex-wife and daughter to support, and for another, he really doesn't seem to be all that good with money. Most episodes has the titular character coming out ahead in the long run, and while several have him giving the cash to someone else (for one reason or another), he seems to be able to generally keep most of his profits. I guess having him constantly hurting for money just makes him a more interesting character, especially when one bill collector or another comes calling.
One bill collector in particular is Lovejoy's landlord and rival antiques dealer, Charlie Gimbert (Malcolm Tierney). Most episodes in Series 1 feature some sort of battle or banter between the two characters, and the most rewarding scams that Lovejoy and company pull off end with Charlie being made a fool of, either directly or indirectly.
The last main character introduced in the first episode, "The Firefly Cage" is Lady Jane Felsham (Phyllis Logan). Through a couple of random encounters, Jane gets wrapped up in Lovejoy's world rather quickly, and besides being an occasional bailout when Lovejoy is really hard up for cash, there is also the start of a budding, but playful, relationship that might turn into something more. Too bad she is married to the rich, though often absent, Lord Felsham, but the man acts as an excuse for Jane and Lovejoy to be close and for them to stay apart.
In Lovejoy: Series 1's first episode, we get to see how Lovejoy's mind works, as well as his appreciation for works of art, even new creations. When asked to look into the meaning behind a coal carving in the shape of a firefly cage, he is impressed by the detail of the work, even if it isn't an antique. Unfortunately, his investigation starts to put him in deep water when he starts to uncover an antique thievery ring.
Lovejoy's other exploits include two cases where he discovers something extra in a purchase he picked up. In one, he comes across a marriage headdress that has twelve coins sewn into it that promises to finally get him out of debt, while another uncovers love letters dating back to the Napoleonic War. Of course, in both cases, multiple people are searching for the newly uncovered antiques, and many people aren't who they claim to be.
Another episode, "The Sting," has Lovejoy get together all of his friends for a well organized con that promises to not only return some mistakenly-sold heirlooms to their proper place, but also put Charlie in his. In general, this was a really fun episode and it was great to see it all come together.
Lovejoy will also investigate a murder apparently made over a pair of rare flintlock pistols, dig into a dead forger's estate sale to learn that the master-forger seemed to leave very purposeful mistakes in some of his works, and even go into business with an entrepreneur looking to get an art nouveau antiques store up and running. Of course, the more Lovejoy spends time with the businessman, the more he suspects that not everything is on the up-and-up.
Series 1 wraps up with a two-part episode where Lovejoy learns of a major scam involving the smuggling of Venetian artifacts from the City of Bridges, supposedly for the purposes of preserving them for all time since the place is sinking. Of course, one of the key ingredients of this job is high quality forgeries so that no one notices the work is missing. While Lovejoy balks at the offer to join the organization, he does take notice and decides to travel to Italy and check out the operations. Not only do these two episodes put the pivotal character in his most dangerous story yet, but it takes him out of the drab English countryside and puts him in the beautiful ancient city. If McShane didn't convey Lovejoy's passion and love for antiques in the previous episodes, hearing him talk about the art found around the city in "Death and Venice" will sell it for you.
Again, I was a fan of Lovejoy back when it first aired here in the USA on A&E (the only place to get British TV that wasn't on PBS before BBC became available on this side of the pond). While I don't recall seeing these particular episodes at the time, what I do recall is how great McShane plays this role and how much intrigue the writing slips into the antique world. Any fan of British mysteries should enjoy this show. It isn't your typical cop-driven, murder-heavy series like Midsomer Murders, but its differences combined with its characters are what will really catch your attention.
