Benin Bronze

Greg Veitch is on a visit from Australia, looking for antiques, but especially for what he calls his Eureka, the thing he must have. At Sir Max Spence's house he sees a magnificent bronze from Benin and decides this is it. The problem is the export licence, which proves impossible to obtain, so a deal is struck between Sir Max, Greg and a local forger to get the statue out of the country. The episode first went out on 9 February 1992, midway through the third series' winter run.

Then the bronze goes missing, and Lovejoy comes under suspicion, so he feels he must get to the bottom of what is going on. The investigation turns up a police inspector, Shand, who is not all he claims to be. And Veitch has his own rude awakening with the bronze, which turns his infatuation into a desire for revenge. Everyone in the affair gets burned by the same object, which is exactly what a really valuable piece does in this show.

Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash and Roger Marshall wrote it, John Crome directed. Ian McShane is Lovejoy, Phyllis Logan is Lady Jane Felsham, Dudley Sutton is Tinker Dill, and Chris Jury is Eric Catchpole. James Laurenson plays Greg Veitch, Jan Harvey is Mary Russell, Maurice Denham is Sir Max Spence, Rob Spendlove is D. I. Shand, John McGlynn is Jameson, and Pip Miller is Jerry Blaine. Maurice Denham, a veteran of British character parts for decades, gives Sir Max a patrician calm that suits the man and his house.

The episode is about desire for an object going wrong in several directions at once. A man who must have a thing, a dealer who cannot resist one, and a policeman who is not what he seems. The bronze never quite behaves the way anyone expects, and that is the point of it. The show was fond of visitors from abroad who underestimate the locals, and Veitch is one of its better examples.