They Call Me Midas

Jim Leonard, Lovejoy's old antiques mentor, resurfaces wanting Lovejoy's help with a harmless little scam to catch out a famous dealer. The plot centres on a fake painting by Klimt, aimed at Hans Koopman, a greedy Dutch art dealer who once cheated Judy, Jim's wife, out of something belonging to her late father.

The setting is a weekend house party. Eric plays the role of a rich gentleman farmer, Tinker poses as a lord, Tinker falls heavily for Jim's wife, and Jane is drawn into the scheme as well. They persuade Koopman to buy the fake Klimt in exchange for a parcel of diamonds. It all goes swimmingly. Then Monday morning arrives, and Lovejoy discovers, just too late, that Koopman was not the only person the Leonards deceived. He was a victim too, and the mentor he trusted has played him like a Stradivarius.

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. Dinsdale Landen is Jim Leonard, Annie Lambert is Judy Leonard, Joe Duttine is Ron Nokes, Lucinda Fisher is Samantha, and Jennifer Gibson is Charlotte. Richard Griffiths, later Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter films, plays Hans Koopman with his usual appetite for the part. Dinsdale Landen brings the right kind of plausible charm to Jim Leonard, which is exactly what the part needs.

The episode went out in March 1993, near the end of the season. It is a satisfyingly clever turn of events, and a reminder that in the world of antiques and reputation, the line between harmless mischief and genuine victimisation is worryingly thin. Lovejoy, who has conned half of East Anglia, finally gets a taste of his own medicine, and it is served by the man who taught him the recipe.