Goose Bumps

To settle a dentist bill, Lovejoy agrees to investigate the alleged drowning of a man who reportedly fell or jumped from a cross-channel ferry. The dealer in question disappears over the side, and Lovejoy, for his trouble, ends up with a pair of china geese. It is the kind of payment that would bankrupt a normal accountant. It went out in November 1993 with two heavyweight guests: Pete Postlethwaite, later of The Usual Suspects and In the Name of the Father, and Freddie Jones, one of the great British character actors. Their presence lifts an episode that otherwise runs on quiet comedy. The title puns on the china geese and the mystery's cold shivers, and it earns the joke without forcing it.

Meanwhile Charlie Gimbert, in pursuit of local ambitions, decides to impress the community and asks Charlotte to act as hostess at a Dog Show and Wildlife Auction at Felsham Hall. Lovejoy organizes the auction, putting his geese among the lots, and the mystery of the drowned dealer keeps nudging the proceedings. The evening ends on a quieter note: Charlotte invites Lovejoy home for a dinner for two, and the show, which has spent years dancing around the pair of them, lets the invitation sit there without comment.

Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash and Jeremy Paul wrote it, Gordon Flemyng directed. Ian McShane is Lovejoy, Dudley Sutton is Tinker Dill, and Caroline Langrishe is Charlotte Cavendish. Diane Parish is Beth Taylor, Malcolm Tierney is Charlie Gimbert, Freddie Jones plays Arnold Tapie, Pete Postlethwaite is Terence Sullivan, Maggie Ollerenshaw is Kate Henshaw, Michael Bertenshaw is Malcolm Harbey, and Amelda Brown is Maureen Sullivan.

The combination of a seaside mystery with the genteel affairs of a dog show provides a pleasingly varied texture. Life, the episode reminds you, often operates on the whims of china geese and dinner invitations, and the geese prove a better investment than anyone expected.