Lovejoy

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Lovejoy

Genre	Drama / Mystery
Running time	50 minutes per episode
Creator(s)	John Grant
Starring	Ian McShane Chris Jury Dudley Sutton Phyllis Logan Caroline Langrishe Diane Parish
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	January 10, 1986–December 04, 1994
No. of episodes	71
IMDb profile

For other uses, see Lovejoy (disambiguation).

Lovejoy (marketed as The Lovejoy Mysteries on VHS in the U.S.) is a series of picaresque novels by John Grant (under the pen name Jonathan Gash) about the adventures of Lovejoy, a slightly unsavoury British antiques dealer, in East Anglia. Lovejoy's first name is never mentioned in the books.

The novels were made into a drama TV series shown on British television from 1986 to 1994. The lechery and violence in the novels was largely removed for television. The first series was shown on BBC1 in 1986, and there was a five-year gap before Lovejoy was brought back as a regular series in 1991. Fortunately, nearly all of the original cast returned for the 1991-93 series with Malcolm Tierney reprising his role as Charlie Gimbert at the start of the 4th series. The television version maintained the author's original wish to keep Lovejoy's first name guarded, but a guest star suggests that his first name is "Malcolm" in latter years. Lovejoy neither confirms nor denies this.

The 5th series of Lovejoy included some cast changes as the character of Lady Jane Felsham left the show in the 2nd episode and the character of Eric Catchpole left the show in the 6th episode, both only returning for the series finale. Also in the 5th series two new regular cast members were added. These were Beth Taylor (played by Diane Parish), Lovejoy's new apprentice, and Charlotte Cavendish (played by Caroline Langrishe) — she ran a local antique auction house.

There were also two Lovejoy specials (Christmas episodes, both with a running time of around 90 minutes) made during the second stint of filming. Lovejoy remains a favourite on BBC Canada cable TV and on direct broadcast satellite channels.

1 Main cast
- 1.1 Notable guest stars
2 Lovejoy episode list and original air dates
3 Parodies
4 External links

[edit] Main cast

Ian McShane (Lovejoy)
Chris Jury (Eric Catchpole)
Dudley Sutton (Tinker Dill)
Phyllis Logan (Lady Jane Felsham)
Diane Parish (Beth Taylor)
Malcolm Tierney (Charlie Gimbert)
Caroline Langrishe (Charlotte Cavendish)
Amelia Shankley (Vicki, Lovejoy's daughter)

[edit] Notable guest stars

[edit] Lovejoy episode list and original air dates

[edit] Series 1

1-1 10-Jan-1986 The Firefly Cage
1-2 17-Jan-1986 The Axeman Cometh
1-3 20-Jan-1986 The Sting
1-4 31-Jan-1986 Friends, Romans and Enemies
1-5 07-Feb-1986 The Judas Pair
1-6 14-Feb-1986 To Sleep No More
1-7 21-Feb-1986 The Real Thing
1-8 28-Feb-1986 The March of Time
1-9 07-Mar-1986 Death and Venice (1)
1-10 14-Mar-1986 Death and Venice (2)

[edit] Series 2

2-1 06-Jan-1991 Just Desserts
2-2 13-Jan-1991 The Italian Venus
2-3 20-Jan-1991 Bin Diving
2-4 27-Jan-1991 Montezuma's Revenge
2-5 03-Feb-1991 Who Dares, Sings
2-6 10-Feb-1991 One Born Every Minute
2-7 17-Feb-1991 National Wealth
2-8 24-Feb-1991 Sugar and Spice
2-9 03-Mar-1991 Raise the Hispanic
2-10 10-Mar-1991 Lily's Pearls
2-11 17-Mar-1991 The Black Virgin of Vladimir *

Black Virgin of Vladimir is a two part episode in which the first part is listed in the opening credits as "Riding on Rollers"

[edit] Series 3

3-1 12-Jan-1992 Friends in High Places
3-2 19-Jan-1992 Out To Lunch
3-3 26-Jan-1992 No Strings
3-4 02-Feb-1992 Angel Trousers
3-5 09-Feb-1992 The Benin Bronze
3-6 16-Feb-1992 Eric of Arabia
3-7 23-Feb-1992 Scotch on the Rocks
3-8 01-Mar-1992 Loveknots
3-9 08-Mar-1992 Smoke Your Nose
3-10 15-Mar-1992 Kids
3-11 22-Mar-1992 Members Only
3-12 29-Mar-1992 Highland Fling (1)
3-13 05-Apr-1992 Highland Fling (2)

Special S-1 26-Dec-1992 The Prague Sun

[edit] Series 4

4-1 10-Jan-1993 The Napoleonic Commode
4-2 17-Jan-1993 The Ring
4-3 24-Jan-1993 Second Fiddle
4-4 31-Jan-1993 The Colour of Mary
4-5 07-Feb-1993 Fly the Flag
4-6 14-Feb-1993 Judgment of Solomon
4-7 21-Feb-1993 The Galloping Major
4-8 28-Feb-1993 God Helps Those
4-9 07-Mar-1993 They Call Me Midas
4-10 14-Mar-1993 Irish Stew
4-11 28-Mar-1993 Dainty Dish
4-12 04-Apr-1993 Taking the Pledge
4-13 11-Apr-1993 Lovejoy Loses It

[edit] Series 5

5-1 05-Sep-1993 Pig in a Poke
5-2 12-Sep-1993 Who is the Fairest of Them All?
5-3 19-Sep-1993 A Going Concern
5-4 26-Sep-1993 The Kakiemon Tiger
5-5 03-Oct-1993 Three Men and a Brittle Lady
5-6 10-Oct-1993 Ducking and Diving
5-7 17-Oct-1993 Stones of Destiny
5-8 24-Oct-1993 Poetic Licence
5-9 31-Oct-1993 The Peking Gun
5-10 07-Nov-1993 Goose Bumps
5-11 14-Nov-1993 Swings and Roundabouts
5-12 21-Nov-1993 Never Judge a Book By Its Cover
5-13 28-Nov-1993 The Price of Fish

Special S-2 27-Dec-1993 The Lost Colony

[edit] Series 6

6-1 02-Oct-1994 Fair Exchange
6-2 09-Oct-1994 Day of Reckoning
6-3 16-Oct-1994 Somewhere Over the Rainbow
6-4 23-Oct-1994 Double Edged Sword
6-5 30-Oct-1994 Guns and Roses
6-6 06-Nov-1994 The Last of the Uzkoks
6-7 13-Nov-1994 Breaking the Broker
6-8 20-Nov-1994 Fruit of the Dessert
6-9 27-Nov-1994 Holding the Baby
6-10 04-Dec-1994 Last Tango in Lavenham

[edit] Parodies

The show was parodied several times in the Harry Enfield sketch show Harry Enfield and Friends under the title 'Big Bob Joylove'.

In one episode of The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Vic Reeves announces 'Lovejoy' to the audience, then Bob Mortimer appears dressed as the character in his black leather jacket, with huge lines of make-up streaking his face. Oddly, this version of Lovejoy speaks in the voice stereotypically associated with a Native American.