Soon after Dallas had ended, actor Ken Kercheval got an offer to star in the Christmas special of Lovejoy and was told that theatrical legend, Sir John Gielgud had already signed up.
I imagine some heated words were later exchanged with his agent when Ken realised that all his scenes were set in North Carolina while Gielgud's scenes were set in England!
Lovejoy encounters Mary-John Lovejoy, an amorous distant cousin from the USA who steals some artifacts from an English lord (John Gielgud.) Lovejoy goes to North Carolina for its return and encounters another cousin, the dastardly Rutherford Lovejoy (Kercheval.) Rutherford is a local bigwig and seems to have the local police in his beck and call.
Both Mary-John and Rutherford are involved in backing a local architectural dig which seems to be a front for some skullduggery that they have been involved in. Lovejoy plans to expose the pair but needs to avoid the local sheriff who keeps busting him.
This was a decent episode but it is also noticeable that there has been a drop in quality from the early Lovejoy shows.