Pig in a Poke

Lovejoy buys a set of James Gillray drawings, which turn out to be copies. While trying to sell them, Eric finds a stolen statue with an aristocratic connection at the house of some friends of Jane's. And then there is a Royal Visit to consider, which is where the episode's title comes into its own.

Bill Brodie, one of the country's biggest pork farmers, is expecting royalty on his land and is desperate to rid himself of a hot property: a Venetian bronze stolen from the Palace. The timing could not be worse, and the whole affair becomes a race to make the problem disappear before it becomes public record. Village life, it turns out, can mask connections to some truly grand historical messes, and a pig farmer with a palace bronze is one of the show's better jokes. It opened the fifth series in September 1993, and the writing table included Jonathan Gash, who created Lovejoy in his novels, alongside Ian La Frenais, a name British viewers knew from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and The Likely Lads. La Frenais had a gift for putting decent people in undignified fixes, which is a fair description of Bill Brodie's week. Gash's love of arcane objects shows in the Gillray drawings and the Venetian bronze.

Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash and Terry Hodgkinson wrote it, Baz Taylor directed. Ian McShane is Lovejoy, Phyllis Logan is Lady Jane Felsham, Dudley Sutton is Tinker Dill, and Chris Jury is Eric Catchpole. Diane Bull plays Annie Brodie, John Bowe is Bill Brodie, Tony Rohr is Rollo, Gabrielle Cowburn is Det. Insp. McDonald, Jake D'Arcy is Murphy, and Hugh Simon is Howard Liddy.

The episode weaves petty forgery together with high-stakes theft and the political pressure of royal scrutiny. Forged drawings, a stolen statue, and a bronze that belongs to the Palace: Lovejoy has to shift the lot without anyone in uniform asking awkward questions. It is a satisfyingly complex little picture, and the pig gets the best line in it.