The BEST episodes of Lovejoy

Every episode of Lovejoy ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Lovejoy!

Lovejoy is a colourful East Anglian antique dealer who lives a somewhat hand-to-mouth life, despite being called a divvie - a man who knows in his bones the right and wrong of fine things. The Lovejoy Antiques team includes Tinker Dill, Lovejoy's barker, Eric Catchpole, his apprentice (the son of the local butcher), and Jane Felsham, the supportive lady of a local grandee. In the fifth and sixth series Lovejoy develops a special relationship with the elegant Charlotte Cavendish, who heads an auction house. Lovejoy's business rival Charlie Gimbert is both his landlord and a competitor for good buys of all kinds. Beth Taylor joins Lovejoy's team on a youth employment scheme in the middle of the fifth series. The show ran for almost nine years, from 1986 to 1994, and is still being repeated in several countries. It was created for television by Ian La Frenais and is based on the Lovejoy books by Jonathan Gash

Last Updated: 12/22/2023Network: BBC OneStatus: Ended
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Last Tango in Lavenham
star
8.08
71 votes

#1 - Last Tango in Lavenham

Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/4/1994

In the last episode of Lovejoy, our hero gears himself up to marry Charlotte, and his old life begins to splinter. Jane Felsham returns with a splash, and without Alexander in tow - will Lovejoy have to choose between her and Charlotte?

Directors: Baz Taylor
Watch Now:Amazon
Friends in High Places
star
7.99
80 votes

#2 - Friends in High Places

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/12/1992

As the third series begins, Lovejoy returns to Felsham after a long break in Spain, where he was trying (without marked success) to learn to paint. He quickly seeks out Tinker (who has joined a monastery), Jane, who has a new look, and Eric, now working as a security guard. Victoria Cavero, an old friend of Jane's, comes to stay, and Lovejoy loses no time in falling for her. Victoria wants to sell a South American gold ring, and the ring sets in motion strange events for Lovejoy and Jane, including safecracking, kidnapping, polo and betrayal.

Directors: Sarah Hellings
Writer: Jeremy Paul
Watch Now:Amazon
Fly the Flag
star
7.94
17 votes

#3 - Fly the Flag

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/7/1993

A family struggling to pay death duties needs Lovejoy's help to raise the wind. Meanwhile, Beau Whittaker, working in a local parish church, finds a valuable old flag dating from the American War of Independence hidden behind a monument. A fierce battle quickly breaks out over the question of who is now the flag's true owner.

Directors: Rob Walker
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Who is the Fairest of Them All?
star
7.94
77 votes

#4 - Who is the Fairest of Them All?

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/12/1993

Jane's old dance teacher wants Lovejoy to sell a mirror. This then leads to a deal which involves the apparently one-eyed Roderick Frew. Jane informs Lovejoy that Alexander is broke, Felsham is in the hands of the receivers, and she is leaving.

Directors: Baz Taylor
Writer: Jeremy Paul
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The Lost Colony
star
7.93
14 votes

#5 - The Lost Colony

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/27/1993

When a descendant of Sir Walter Raleigh sells his home and its contents, Lovejoy meets an American woman whose name is also Lovejoy. Several antiques go missing along with the woman and Lovejoy tracks them back to North Carolina. Lovejoy discovers that the woman and her brother are operating a scam to claim an inheritance. The pair get Lovejoy put in jail, but Charlotte arrives to help him and together they set about bringing the Americans to justice.

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Members Only
star
7.76
105 votes

#6 - Members Only

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/22/1992

Mr Kashimoto is trying without success to join an exclusive local golf club. The club asks Lovejoy to value its finest silver trophy, but he recognizes it as a fake. Eric then accidentally shoots a hole in Lovejoy's ceiling, and in the loft above a very similar trophy is discovered... Lovejoy sets out to solve the mystery.

Directors: John Crome
Watch Now:Amazon
Three Men and a Brittle Lady
star
7.75
105 votes

#7 - Three Men and a Brittle Lady

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/3/1993

Charlotte's former lover arrives from New York and invites her to live with him in Paris, but she turns him down.A forger cons Charlie Gimbert into buying some fake porcelain, but Lovejoy catches up with him. In doing so, he discovers a good artist.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Black Virgin of Vladimir
star
7.74
109 votes

#8 - The Black Virgin of Vladimir

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/24/1991

Dealer Harry Catapodis has sold some fakes to Cassandra Lynch, a beautiful American widow Lovejoy knows. Caught out, Harry offers to buy the things back from Cassandra, but he admits he will then sell them on to someone else. With a Japanese business man and others, Lovejoy aims to get back at Harry - and to make some money and seduce Cassandra at the same time.

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Smoke Your Nose
star
7.72
106 votes

#9 - Smoke Your Nose

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/8/1992

The Reverend Harry Nettles claims there is a mosaic floor belonging to a Roman villa in the field next to his church, which is about to be built on. Nobody believes him, and the county archaeologist has agreed to the plans, so Lovejoy races to thwart the developer. He also has a dance with Jane, newly separated from Alexander...

Directors: Baz Taylor
Watch Now:Amazon
Kids
star
7.69
104 votes

#10 - Kids

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/15/1992

Lovejoy's daughter Vicky disappears, then announces she is living with an older man whose wife has died. Susan, Vicky's mother, does not approve. When Lovejoy investigates, he finds that Vicky's boyfriend is not a widower at all. Meanwhile, Lovejoy is also busy uncovering a fake art scam being run by the son of a cabinet minister...

Watch Now:Amazon
The Prague Sun
star
7.67
6 votes

#11 - The Prague Sun

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/26/1992

An old friend of Lovejoy's asks for help when her wartime sweetheart, a Czech pilot who was presumed killed in action, reappears after fifty years. The man has returned to England to collect a cache of gemstones that were buried in the grounds of a church, but he is killed when he tries to retrieve them. Discovering that the diamonds were looted from Prague during the war, Lovejoy and Eric travel there on the trail of the jewels and encounter sinister forces who also want the jewels and are prepared to murder to get them.

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The Napoleonic Commode
star
7.67
75 votes

#12 - The Napoleonic Commode

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/10/1993

Lovejoy is evicted from his rented cottage, as Freddy the Phone, his landlord (also known as Frederick Arthur Haig Montgomery Wavell Reeve) owes back taxes on it. So Lovejoy takes to the road and acquires a commode said to have belonged to the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte... and the next thing is to hunt down a continental expert to authenticate it. Did 'Boney' really sit here?

Directors: Baz Taylor
Watch Now:Amazon
The Last of the Uzkoks
star
7.64
70 votes

#13 - The Last of the Uzkoks

Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/1994

Lovejoy is called in by Lord Dunwich to value a silver communion set, and Lady Dunwich wants him to find her some antique prints of the lost town of Dunwich-by-the-Sea (which is now under the sea). Charlie has done a moonlight flit, leaving his old dad in charge of Felsham Hall, and there are some unlikely characters around - a mad Greek priest, a Dutch civil servant, and a strange woman...

Directors: Ian McShane
Watch Now:Amazon
Breaking the Broker
star
7.64
72 votes

#14 - Breaking the Broker

Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/13/1994

The police set up Tinker, so that they can get a favour from Lovejoy. They want him to check out an up-market pawnbroker who is suspected of receiving antiques stolen overseas.

Directors: Alex Kirby
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Day of Reckoning
star
7.61
70 votes

#15 - Day of Reckoning

Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/9/1994

A former friend, Max Hunter, who believes Lovejoy had an affair with his wife, kidnaps Charlotte and plans to kill her. But he gives Lovejoy a sporting chance to find him by leaving a series of clues.

Directors: Paul Harrison
Watch Now:Amazon
Double Edged Sword
star
7.59
69 votes

#16 - Double Edged Sword

Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/23/1994

A tough-talking business man hires Lovejoy to recover a sixteenth-century samurai sword which has been stolen from him. Another dealer, Lovejoy's mentor Jim Leonard, buys the sword at an auction, but it is promptly stolen from him by Joanna, the daughter of the original owner. Lovejoy stays on the trail.

Directors: Alex Kirby
Watch Now:Amazon
Eric of Arabia
star
7.59
133 votes

#17 - Eric of Arabia

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/16/1992

Lovejoy is asked to value an ancient Chinese terra-cotta figure of a pig. Then he falls off a bicycle and breaks his leg, landing him in hospital. The pig's owners, curiously, are doing their best to have it under-valued. Meanwhile, Eric needs to sell his ancient motorbike and comes up with the story that it once belonged to Lawrence of Arabia. And pigs might fly...

Directors: Ian McShane
Watch Now:Amazon
The Galloping Major
star
7.59
73 votes

#18 - The Galloping Major

Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/21/1993

On a visit to Frankie's scrap yard Lovejoy acquires an ancient cannon. He takes a trip to the Tower of London to see what he can find out about it, and while he's away an ordnance expert going under the name of Major Turpin tries to steal the cannon from under Eric's nose.

Directors: Baz Taylor
Watch Now:Amazon
Judgment of Solomon
star
7.58
71 votes

#19 - Judgment of Solomon

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/14/1993

A retired senior Air Force officer wants Lovejoy to sell his large and remarkable collection of Jewish antiques, but Lovejoy's contacts the Solomons are suspicious about the provenance of the items. Meanwhile, Eric is arrested for theft while driving Jane's Range Rover.

Directors: Rob Walker
Out To Lunch
star
7.57
81 votes

#20 - Out To Lunch

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/19/1992

Lovejoy is spending more and more time with Victoria, not so much on his business. Together with Jane and Alexander, he and Victoria go away for the weekend at a friend's cottage. Meanwhile, Lovejoy buys some drawings for a song and sells them to an art gallery for a good profit. He is shaken when the pictures are denounced as fakes - even the artist says they are not his, but Lovejoy is sure they are. What is going on?

Directors: Sarah Hellings
Watch Now:Amazon
The Price of Fish
star
7.57
76 votes

#21 - The Price of Fish

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/28/1993

Lovejoy is invited to spend the weekend with Charlotte at her best friend's house. The friend is short of money and has a clock she wants valued, but Lovejoy finds a stuffed fish which is worth selling, and misunderstandings arise... Meanwhile, Tinker is keen to thwart Charlie Gimbert's plans to turn Felsham Hall into a health farm, and after studying a twelfth-century charter he starts grazing a flock of sheep around the Hall. Charlie responds by threatening to evict Lovejoy Antiques from the stable yard, so Tinker and Beth take a trip to a health farm.

Directors: Jim Hill
Watch Now:Amazon
Fruit of the Dessert
star
7.57
69 votes

#22 - Fruit of the Dessert

Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1994

Lovejoy has a dangerous plan, which includes putting himself in the hands of a notorious moneylender and risking the future of his daughter, Vicky.But then, ""Those who hazard all do it in hope of fair advantages...""

Holding the Baby
star
7.57
69 votes

#23 - Holding the Baby

Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/27/1994

Lovejoy buys a nineteenth-century dresser for a song, after getting advice from a Caribbean specialist. Meanwhile, Charlotte has mixed feelings about being left holding someone else's baby.

Directors: Baz Taylor
Watch Now:Amazon
Riding in Rollers
star
7.56
80 votes

#24 - Riding in Rollers

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/17/1991

Dealer Harry Catapodis has sold some fakes to Cassandra Lynch, a beautiful American widow Lovejoy knows. Caught out, Harry offers to buy the things back from Cassandra, but he admits he will then sell them on to someone else. With a Japanese business man and others, Lovejoy aims to get back at Harry - and to make some money and seduce Cassandra at the same time.

Directors: Francis Megahy
Watch Now:Amazon
Irish Stew
star
7.55
75 votes

#25 - Irish Stew

Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/14/1993

The Lovejoy Antiques team is in Ireland looking for new stock (and also hoping to find a painting by Jack Butler Yeats, for Jane to give her uncle). A bungled robbery leaves them in possession of a page from a rare ancient book, and the search is on for an expert - Brendan Hennessey.

Directors: John Crome
Writer: T.R. Bowen
Watch Now:Amazon