Product Description

Ian McShane starred in wholesome family fare before he became a weathered expletive-drawling character on HBO's DEADWOOD. LOVEJOY is a case in point--this British TV show stars McShane as an antiques dealer who pursues a sideline career as an amateur detective. McShane's character (named Lovejoy) spends most of the show trading in antiques looking for women to seduce and cracking crimes and the formula proved immensely popular with U.K. television audiences who couldn't get enough of this loveable and down-to-earth character. This release includes every episode from the second season of the show.System Requirements:Running Time: 624 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/BBC Rating: NR UPC: 794051423023 Manufacturer No: E4230

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17401 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-01-08
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 624 minutes

Features

• Ian McShane starred in wholesome, family fare before he became a weathered, expletive-drawling character on HBO's DEADWOOD. LOVEJOY is a case in point--this British TV show stars McShane as an antiques dealer who pursues a sideline career as an amateur detective. McShane's character (named Lovejoy) spends most of the show trading in antiques, looking for women to seduce, and cracking crime

Amazon.com
Ian McShane has the best eyes on television--they turn from a mischievous twinkle to a baleful, heart-stopping glare in an instant. McShane achieved fame in the U.S. as foul-mouthed saloon owner Al Swearengen on Deadwood, but long before then he'd made his mark as lovable but slippery antiques dealer Lovejoy, whose gift for sifting true articles from false is matched only by his personal magnetism--for trouble. The second season of this British series beings with Lovejoy in prison for transporting stolen goods. Naturally, he'd been set up, and the episode darts back and forth in time as Lovejoy and his compatriots--boozy partner Tinker (Dudley Sutton), resentful flunky Eric (Chris Jury), and the woman Lovejoy wishes was more than a friend, Lady Jane (Phyllis Logan)--figure out the who, what, and how of the con game. Though the show is best categorized as a mystery, only a few episodes feature any serious violence, and only one is a murder mystery (with a dead body in a suit of medieval armor). At its best, Lovejoy is about trickery and human weakness. Lovejoy helps a disinherited brother take revenge on his greedy sibling; a collection of classic pornography may belong to a girls' school; a wandering artist seduces lonely housewives by doing paintings of their cottages. When there is gunplay--as when a French policeman is killed by thieves who strip homes of their architectural features--it feels a bit overdone, a bit showy. Far more compelling are the subtle conflicts and dramas, such as when Lovejoy gently forces an elderly woman to admit her silver bowls aren't worth what she claimed. Both writing and direction have sharpened in this second season: Plots are twistier, characters better developed, the pace more sprightly, and McShane seems gloriously at ease with unscrupulous alter-ego. In addition to twelve excellent episodes (including the two-part season finale, featuring Linda Gray from Dallas), this box set has two charming interviews with McShane, one made for the dvd release and one from a 1991 British talk show, conducted when the series was aired. Lovejoy features an abundance of vaguely familiar character actors as guest starts, including Brian Blessed (Flash Gordon), Patrick Malahide (The Singing Detective), and Tom Wilkinson (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

The splendid British antiques/mystery series in its 2nd season
The long overdue US success that Ian McShane enjoyed as Al Swearengen in the HBO series Deadwood may be responsible for the equally long overdue release of Lovejoy, the superb British series seen on A & E back in the early 1990s, on DVD. In Deadwood, McShane took his penchant for playing lovable rogues and darkened his portrayal by several orders of magnitude, while simultaneously investing a three-syllable expletive with an almost Shakespearean eloquence. But the seeds of that brilliant performance can be found here, in a charming, slightly corrupt but never mean character, whose talents as a 'divvy' or diviner of the true identity and worth of obscure antiques, makes him highly sought after by those on both sides of the law who are 'collectors' of the objects of Lovejoy's obsession.

What makes the Lovejoy character so interesting is his authentic love for things old and beautiful. His passionate concern is with their true value and not their mere monetary worth. It is only when he engages in a rare bit of forgery now and then, of which he is also a master, that monetary considerations are paramount. Of course, Lovejoy invariably winds up giving the proceeds to some needy soul, one usually fleeced by the more nefarious characters who populate the darker realms of the antiques world, including the obnoxious Charlie Gimbert (Malcolm Tierney), an unscrupulous antiques dealer who is the anti-Lovejoy. Lovejoy's unrequited love for Lady Jane (Phyllis Logan), his fiercely loyal friendship with his gone-to-seed partner, the usually tipsy Tinker (Dudley Sutton), his tolerance for his resentful apprentice Eric (Chris Jury), provide the skeletal structure around which numerous clever and well-written scripts are constructed.

The show hits its stride in the second season, first broadcast in 1991, five years after the 1986 premiere of the truncated (10 episode) first season. That delay was caused by lengthy contractual difficulties. The twelve 1991 episodes include:
1) Just Desserts
2) The Italian Venus
3) Bin Diving
4) Montezuma's Revenge
5) Who Dares, Sings
6) One Born Every Minute
7) National Wealth
8) Sugar and Spice
9) Raise the Hispanic
10) Lily's Pearls
11) Riding in Rollers
12) The Black Virgin of Vladimir (the last two a two hour episode)

This is a superbly entertaining and intelligently written television show. If mysteries leavened with light comedy, as well as a healthy dose of the fascinating world of antiques and art, interest you, then you will love this show. Most strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

Lovejoy continues - or in the US Begins
For American audiences, this is the first season of Lovejoy. This show premiered on A&E in 1991 with The Black Virgin of Vladmir. This was probably done as a tie in to Dallas. In 1988, Ian McShane joined the cast of Dallas as movie producer Don Lockwood to become Sue Ellen's love interest. The end of the season, both characters left the show to be together in London. Two years later Linda Gray returned the favor by doing a guest on his television series Lovejoy.

The following are the episodes on this set:

Just Deserts - Lovejoy has returned from doing time after being set up. Now he has returned home to find out who really did it.

The Italian Venus - Jane asks for Lovejoy's help to get the inheritance a friend of her's is due from his brother. Lovejoy does this with a fake statue.

Bin Diving - (That means looking in trash bins for salvagable items.) Once again Lady Jane gets Lovejoy in trouble. After Jane has Lovejoy value the goods of an elderly widow, the antiques are stolen and of course, Lovejoy is the police's prime suspect.

Montezuma's Revenge - When Lovejoy is asked to sell a pre-Columbian solid gold, two murders occur. It's upto Lovejoy to solve the mystery.

Who Dares, Sings - Lovejoy and Lady Jane are hired to decorate pub but Lovejoy finds out you can't even trust the police.

One Born Every Minute - Lovejoy is hired to find a local lothario, who paints pictures of homes and uses this to seduce the lady of the house. But once again, everything is not what it seems.

National Wealth - Lovejoy is hired by a former film star, who Tinker has a crush on, to arrange an auction. But her house is robbed, just like a number of other country homes. It's Lovejoy to the rescue.

Sugar and Spice - This time it's Lovejoy's daughter who gets him in trouble. We get to meet his ex-wife, too.

Raise the Hispanic - Lovejoy is hired to furnish a house as a wedding present from the bride's father. But nothing is that easy for Lovejoy, when he finds the groom in a suit of amour - well the dead groom.

Lily's Pearls - Lord Felsham has a new partner but as usual, nothing is as it seems. Lord Felsham's partner has secrets including his wife Lily's pearls.

The Black Virgin of Vladmir - (the best episode) - American widow Cassandra Lynch is swindled by Harry Catapodis and Lovejoy decides not only to get even but teach Harry a lesson, in one of the series most complicated and funny cons.

Ian McShane is great as the rougish Lovejoy and Phyllis Logan is the perfect unattainable love interest. Add to this Chris Jury and Duddley Sutton as the perfect accomplices and you have a great cast.

This series is a cultural icon in Britan. The name Lovejoy is synanamous with the antiques trade. If you watch any of the BBC antiques show (Cash in the Attic or Bargin Hunt), you will hear people referred to Lovejoys.

If you enjoy witty well written shows with a cast that is obviously a great time, this is your show.

A Wonderful blast from the past!
Great show from the past. Ian McShane is brilliant as the antiques dealer Lovejoy and his interaction with the cast of characters...Lady Jane, Tinker and Eric makes this show such a joy, no pun intended, to watch. This for sure is one of those DVD sets, where you get addicted to the episodes, meaning you intend to sit back and watch one episode, then you're on the second...third...putting in disc two with episodes 4, 5 6
I just hope they continue releasing the subsequent seasons. I have purchased seasons 1,2 and 3......watched them all, but there is no word yet on season 4's release.