Douglas Holden (Nicholas Farrell) is a struggling artist who has fallen on hard times. No money and plenty of debts.
He comes from a wealthy family but his greedy snooty older brother Sir Hugo Carey-Holden Patrick Malahide inherited the lot. Despite promises to look after Douglas, he throws a few crumbs to his direction.
Lady Felsham wants Lovejoy to help out Douglas and his wife. Although reluctant, he changes his mind when he meets Sir Hugo and his wife Lady Felicity (Celia Imrie) a pair of snobbish philistines.
Both are unaware of the extent of the valuable collection their grandfather acquired. Which includes a statue in the garden. A Guarini Florentine bronze, incomplete but if they can put the pieces together the whole thing would be worth over £2 million pounds.
This gives Lovejoy an idea for a con. It would net Douglas almost £200,000 and he can help making a fake bronze bust to complete the set.
Very much Lovejoy in Robin Hood mould. Lucky for him Douglas was handy in making fakes statues.
It was a nice sting, even with a few twists, something familiar by the table lamp. It leads to a race against time.