The Real Thing

Jane has gone into partnership with an entrepreneur named Palmer, converting a warehouse into an Art Nouveau antiques centre, and Lovejoy is convinced the whole venture is built on sand. Needing a break from Charlie, he takes a few days' work at a new antiques market in Norwich owned by a client of Jane's. The boss turns out to be a con-man, and Lovejoy sets about exposing him.

While that deception is still unravelling, he also tries to trap a second crook who is selling fake paintings. Two frauds at once, one workplace romance gone sour, and a warehouse full of Art Nouveau that may or may not be worth the floor space. Lovejoy runs between the two threads with the energy of a man who genuinely enjoys catching people out, which he does.

Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash and Francis Megahy wrote it, Roger Tucker directed. Ian McShane is Lovejoy, Phyllis Logan is Lady Jane Felsham, and the familiar support of Dudley Sutton's Tinker Dill, Malcolm Tierney's Charlie Gimbert and Chris Jury's Eric Catchpole is all present. Ray Lonnen plays Palmer, Donald Hewlett is Harry, Jenny Runacre is Sandra, Leslie French is Cuthie, and Geoffrey Bateman is Dandy Jack.

There is something cheering about an episode where the hero's main job is proving people dishonest. The elaborate scams are always run by the most confident people in the room, and Lovejoy's quiet pleasure in puncturing them is the whole appeal. It went out on 21 February 1986, and the two con-men give Lovejoy what he enjoys most: the chance to be right in public. The Norwich market setting suits the regulars, who get to work the stalls alongside him, which is where the show's best comedy has always lived. Norwich gets a market full of fakes, Jane gets a lesson in picking partners, and the divvie gets to be right twice in one week.