A Cup of Crime

Lovejoy · S03E11

Members Only

First aired 1992-03-22 · Written by Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash, Geoff McQueen · Directed by John Crome

Mr Kashimoto, a likable and honorable Japanese businessman, is trying without success to join an exclusive local golf club. Lovejoy and Jane take up his cause, which is a fine way to spend an episode. Then the club asks Lovejoy to value its finest silver trophy, and he recognises it at once as a fake. Togo Igawa, a Japanese actor long based in Britain, gives Mr Kashimoto a quiet dignity that makes the club's behaviour look worse.

The mystery takes an unexpected turn when Eric accidentally shoots a hole in Lovejoy's ceiling. In the loft above, a very similar trophy is discovered, and Lovejoy sets out to solve the riddle of what the trophies really are and why the club is displaying a copy. The answer, naturally, involves the club's sense of its own importance and a good deal of pride that does not survive contact with the truth. It went out on 22 March 1992, and it is one of the series' gentler outings: the only real villain is institutional pride.

Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash and Geoff McQueen 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. Michael Culver plays Arnold Featherstone, Neil Stacy is Major Hinchcliff-Jones, Togo Igawa is Mr Kashimoto, Dominic Jephcott is Peter Davis, Peter Lovstrom is Ron Noades, and Peter Bayliss is Morris.

There is a nice irony in an exclusive club's finest trophy turning out to be a fake, and an even nicer one in the real article being found through a hole in the ceiling caused by Eric's marksmanship. Joining an exclusive club, it turns out, conceals a genuine historical deception. Mr Kashimoto, meanwhile, conducts himself with more honour than the members' lounge can muster. The episode is as much about snobbery as about silver, and the club's members do most of the damage to themselves.

Cast

  • Ian McShaneas Lovejoy
  • Phyllis Loganas Lady Jane Felsham
  • Dudley Suttonas Tinker Dill
  • Chris Juryas Eric Catchpole
  • Michael Culveras Arnold Featherstone
  • Neil Stacyas Major Hinchcliff-Jones
  • Togo Igawaas Mr Kashimoto
  • Dominic Jephcottas Peter Davis
  • Peter Lovstromas Ron Noades
  • Peter Baylissas Morris