The Last of the Uzkoks

Lovejoy is called in by Lord Dunwich to value a silver communion set, and the job grows legs. The vessel at the heart of it, an artophorian, is a priceless piece from a centuries-old Greek Orthodox communion set, and half a dozen claimants are all insisting they have the right to it. Meanwhile Lady Dunwich wants Lovejoy to find antique prints of the lost town of Dunwich-by-the-Sea, a place now swallowed by the waves. Two searches, one for a vessel, one for a vanished geography.

Charlie has done a moonlight flit, leaving his old dad, Walter Gimbert, in charge of Felsham Hall, which explains some of the strange company about. A mad Greek priest, a Dutch civil servant, and a mysterious woman all contribute their peculiar expertise to the affair, and the atmosphere is suitably cluttered and intriguing for a classic period mystery. The academic pursuit of forgotten history has rarely looked so eccentric. The episode aired on 6 November 1994, and both of its searches end in the same place: the value people put on the past.

Ian La Frenais, Jonathan Gash and Steve Coombes wrote it, and Ian McShane directed, his final turn behind the camera for the series. Ian McShane is Lovejoy, Dudley Sutton is Tinker Dill, Caroline Langrishe is Charlotte Cavendish, and Diane Parish is Beth Taylor. Patrick Ryecart plays Lord Dunwich, Gwen Humble is Lady Dunwich, Andy Lucas is Niarchos, Gillian Barge is Lara Iskander, John Bardon is Walter Gimbert, and Richard Marner is Bishop Theotokis. Marner, remembered for his long run as the hapless Colonel von Strohm, brings stately oddness to the bishop, and Bardon, later a familiar face in EastEnders, gives Walter Gimbert a gruff dignity.

The episode is a satisfyingly complex portrait of historical obsession. The most valuable secrets, it proves once again, are buried beneath layers of faded ink and chipped silver, and the lost town of Dunwich stays lost while the communion vessel finds its way home.