This episode follows a Lovejoy trend of shifting the action from home turf (East Anglia) to a second location (in this case the Isle Of Man), but it’s fair to say this episode is all over the place.

Is it a whodunit? Why are characters behaving illogically (and often pathologically)? Why is Charlie Gimbert shooting up his own property? The answers may be found in what the writers do so well – casting light and poking gentle fun at the complexity of and subtlety of the English class system.

What makes Lovejoy work as a character is his ability to glide between class divisions and keep his own ‘flava’, whether it’s the local greasy spoon or a fancy dinner at Felsham Hall. Charlie Gimbert meanwhile, while owning the trappings of the upper class (big house, car, expensive hobbies) never quite pulls it off. He just tries too hard, and misses clues to genuine ‘poshness’ which if you have to ask about them, means you also fail the test (no indoor pools, please, we’re British).

This could lie at the root of the love/hate relationship which exists between Gimbert and our hero, which comes to a head here as Lovejoy is roused from his bed by an intruder, sporting eyecatching red long johns (no central heating in his digs). The ‘burglar’ turns out to be none other than Gimbert, armed with a shotgun, who proceeds to shoot up the place demanding unpaid rent!

This episode was apparently written by Le Frenais and Gash himself, and is another example of the Lovejoy pendulum swinging between the lovable and wrong ‘un poles, with uncertain success. Next morning Lovejoy is round at Gimbert’s for breakfast as if nothing had happened, there are flashes of boobs and a tacit admission by Lovejoy of statutory rape – this is very much the character in the original books, and I’m not sure I like him very much.

To work off some of his debt, Lovejoy is tasked by Gimbert to go through the effects of an elderly engineer who recently died and left his estate to the housekeeper. The sale attracts the interest of an American couple whose wooden acting is straight out of Dallas and similar US exports which were so popular in the 80’s.

Before long, we have the episode’s first murder and Lovejoy is off to the Isle Of Man to track down a mysterious hoard of coins, via a flying visit to a boarding school where we are introduced to Lovejoy’s daughter.

There are some great one-liners to be sure, both on the nature of antiquing (“We’re dealers and capable of incredible deceit”, Lovejoy muses) and Eric’s ignorance (“You think Faberge eggs are crusty chocolates”), but other than that the supporting cast are relegated to following Lovejoy around as he romps through a series of pretty confusing, Manx-based set pieces (and another murder).

Lovejoy solves the mystery but there is so much which just doesn’t make sense in terms of character motivation and logic, and despite some solid and entertaining work from McShane and his cast this feels like an uncertain step back to the ‘action’ format of Episode 1.

I watched this with my daughter #1 (and designer of this site) who gave this a 2 out of 5, and I agree with this verdict – harsh but fair. Let’s hope Lovejoy and co find their groove closer to home in the next episode!