The Napoleonic Commode

Inland Revenue comes to collect on an enormous debt owed by Freedie the Phone, owner of the property where Lovejoy took up residnece last series.

They take all of Lovejoy's antiques and put him out on the street. Lady Jane's got company so she can't take him in. So Lovejoy works his trapline for overnight accommodation. And gets to work putting his business back together.

He comes across Napoleon's commode. Or what somebody's purporting to be Napoleon's commode. Which they try to flog to some fat Frenchie.

Lovejoy also tries to hire a document forgerer, who is up to his neck forging docs for Russian ex-pats who are trying to push claims for this or that back in the Motherland. Including one guy who is claiming ''all of Ukraine."

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Anyway, the magic of this episode really starts when Freddie - played by Alexei Sayle - returns to East Anglia from his Spanish holiday. I can't tell whether that fake accent is supposed to be Cockney or Aussie, but Sayle steals the episode just the same.

A fine start to Series 4.