If there’s one episode of Lovejoy the ‘casual’ viewer can recall from the mists of 1980’s Sunday TV viewing, this is probably the Judas Pair. It’s up there with the bathtub scene in Last Of the Summer Wine, but doesn’t have the near-universal recognition of Del Boy dropping the chandelier in Only Fools & Horses. 

Before the terrible Hungerford shootings began the process of their removal from public consciousness, firearms were a common sight in UK society. A popular 1970’s TV series told tales of pistol-wielding highwayman Dick Turpin (with theme by the Lovejoy composer) and the hottest rock band in the world was, you guessed it, Guns & Roses. With this in mind I sat down (with #1 daughter) to revisit this landmark episode for the first time in several decades. Will it still stand and deliver? 

This story is the first novel in Gash’s series, but by this point, despite a writer’s credit for the author, Ian Le Frenais is firmly in the driving seat, and it’s all the better for it. The episode opens with a duelling scene in a barn which I am sure is a homage to Stanley Kubrick’s wonderful period drama Barry Lyndon, and moves rapidly on a whistle-stop tour of East Anglia with a nice focus on Cambridge, which really hasn’t changed all that much. 

What would be described in the trade as an ‘advanced’ (deep-pocketed) collector has been murdered and a missing pair of pistols from the Regency period appears to be the motive. Lovejoy is commissioned by the family to track them down and quickly drawn into a deadly mystery. 

Mid series, the production team now shows real confidence in their own voice and a deftness of touch missing from the original texts. Small points matter; like Lovejoy musing “I went to a redbrick university” while among the dreaming spires (in the book he has no degree, and a chip on his shoulder). The other major change in the shows is that body count is far lower, and I don’t believe Lovejoy is ever directly or indirectly responsible for someone’s death. I’m happy to be corrected here, but the point remains that he gets his hands bloody in the novels on a pretty regular basis.

What does get used here repeatedly as a dramatic device are burglaries – so far 3 on average per episode – which in light entertainment circles makes Lovejoy on par with the murder rate of St Marie in Death In Paradise. Some of these are genuinely tense and exciting as the murderer tries various methods to scare off our hero and Janey, from arrows to arson. Even Lovejoy gets in on the act, casually breaking and entering the auctioneers in order to do his own ‘preview’ following a hunch. 

As a longtime fan of Eric, it’s great to see him being given space to shine. Despite being almost 30 when season 1 was commissioned, Chris Jury perfectly captures the goofiness of the teenage metal fan I remember being at the time, right down to the Air Guitar. His favourite band is “Torn Limb”, possibly a sly reference to a Motorhead lyric which was a biker anthem. He’s also rather prescient on the future role of AI in current life; when Lovejoy tasks Eric with sifting through catalogues for sales of firearms, he insists “we should get a computer”.

It turns out Lovejoy himself is on the police computer, as a suspect for a couple of characters in the local constabulary who seem as familiar with the trade, and banter, as anyone else here. Fun is also had with the triangular relationship existing between Lovejoy, Janey, and her often-absent husband, who complains: “I don’t mind your friendship with my wife, Lovejoy, beyond worrying if she’ll land up in hospital, jail or taken by white slavers”. 

While there are enjoyable thrills and spills here, there’s interesting light shown on the completeness mania of collectors which strikes a chord with Lovejoy, and this combo left me and daughter wanting more – a 2 episode night! Our score for this one; an almost perfect 4…