''Lovejoy'' is a British television

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

series, based on the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s by John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six series, was originally broadcast on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

between 10 January 1986 and 4 December 1994, though there was a five-year gap between the first and second series. It was adapted for television by

Ian La Frenais Ian La Frenais (born 7 January 1937) is a retired English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including '' The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', ' ...

Overview

The series concerns the adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a roguish antiques dealer based in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

, and was filmed around

Long Melford Long Melford, colloquially and historically also referred to as Melford, is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour ...

. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a "divvy", a person with almost unnatural powers of recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antiques from fakes or forgeries.

Characters

* Lovejoy, played by

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and M ...

, a less than scrupulous, yet likeable rogue antique dealer * Eric Catchpole, played by

Chris Jury Chris Jury (born 28 September 1956) is an English actor, writer and director with a range of television credits. He is best known for his role as Eric Catchpole in the BBC television series ''Lovejoy'', which he played between 1986 (series 1) a ...

(series 1–5; guest, series 6), Lovejoy's younger, enthusiastic, but ever so slightly dim, assistant * Tinker Dill, played by

Dudley Sutton Dudley Sutton (6 April 1933 – 15 September 2018) was an English actor. Active in radio, stage, film and television, he was best known for his role of Tinker Dill in the BBC Television comedy/drama series ''Lovejoy''. Early life Sutton was b ...

, "barker" and tout who is friends with Lovejoy * Lady Jane Felsham, played by

Phyllis Logan Phyllis Logan (born 11 January 1956) is a Scottish actress, widely known for her roles as Lady Jane Felsham in ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes in ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for ...

(series 1–5; guest, series 6), has a friendly, flirtatious relationship with Lovejoy, often helping him with his deals * Charlie Gimbert, played by

Malcolm Tierney Malcolm Tierney (25 February 1938 – 19 February 2014) was an English actor who appeared in many stage, film and television roles. Early life Tierney's father, Ernest, was a boilermaker and trained draughtsman, from Warrington, who worked at ...

(series 1, 4–5), Lovejoy's landlord and the owner of a local

auction house An auction house is a business establishment that facilitates the buying and selling of assets, such as works of art and collectibles. Overview The auction house is the physical facility where the objects are catalogued, displayed, and presented ...

, he is also Lovejoy's nemesis and rival within the antiques trade * Beth Taylor, played by

Diane Parish Diane Carol Richards (born 6 November 1969), known professionally as Diane Parish, is an English actress, who has been portraying the character Denise Fox on the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' since 2006. A graduate of the Royal Academy of D ...

(series 5–6), Lovejoy's new apprentice following the departure of Eric Catchpole * Charlotte Cavendish, played by

Caroline Langrishe Caroline Langrishe (born 10 January 1958) is an English actress. Early life Born in London, Langrishe is the elder daughter of Patrick Nicholas Langrishe (1932–2022), of The Manor House, Sellindge, Kent, a Lieutenant in the 11th Hussars, late ...

(series 5–6), an auctioneer who becomes Lovejoy's love interest

Broadcast history

The series was notable for its style and pace. Lovejoy would frequently break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

, revealing his thoughts and motives by addressing the audience directly. The first series was shown on BBC1 in the first half of 1986. It concluded with a two-part special. Despite the first series being a moderate ratings success, ''Lovejoy'' was not brought back until January 1991. The original four cast members returned for the next two series between 1991 and 1992. With the start of the fourth series in 1993,

reprised his first series role as Charlie Gimbert. During the fifth series, several cast changes were made. Phyllis Logan left the show in the second episode and Chris Jury departed in the sixth episode, although both characters returned for the sixth series finale. Two new regular characters were added: Lovejoy's new apprentice, Beth Taylor, and Charlotte Cavendish, who ran a local antiques auction house. The sixth and final series of ten episodes was broadcast between October and December 1994. Two ninety-minute ''Lovejoy'' specials for Christmas were shown in 1992 and 1993. The theme tune used in the opening and end credits, as well as the incidental music for each episode, was composed by

Denis King Denis Andrew King (born 25 July 1939) is an English composer and singer. He is best remembered as a member of a family ensemble, The King Brothers. Early career: the King Brothers King was born in Hornchurch, Essex, England. He began his mus ...

Releases

In the United States, the series was first broadcast on the

A&E Network A&E (an initialism of its original name, the Arts & Entertainment Network) is an American cable and satellite television network and the flagship property of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Walt Disney Company ...

. It was marketed as ''The Lovejoy Mysteries'' on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in the United States. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release of the entire series has returned to the title of ''Lovejoy''.

References

External links

*
Ian McShane talks about Lovejoy part one
2004 video

at British TV Resources *
Filming locationsLovejoy TV show makes a comeback
{{Clement and La Frenais 1986 British television series debuts 1994 British television series endings 1980s British comedy-drama television series 1990s British comedy-drama television series 1980s British mystery television series 1990s British mystery television series BBC television dramas British crime television series British English-language television shows Television shows based on British novels