Holding the Baby

I never liked the Charlotte character. She was a terrible character that was quickly written into Series 5 after Phyllis Logan left and they were pumping out a second series in 1993. They should have remedied that before Series 6 in 1994.

At best, Charlotte is a cheap excuse for Lovejoy's mooning. You could take any of her episodes and re-write them without her and the basic antique /mystery show wouldn't suffer a bit.

But of course, Lovejoy is as much a Harlequin romance series as it is about antiques and mysteries. So she stayed. And by these late stages she's just frantic and brittle.

This week, she's babysitting a baby in diapers. A crying baby in diapers. Somehow the writers felt compelled to shoehorn even that lame setup into Charlotte being in London to meet some stiffs in suits at the same time Lovejoy heads to the city to find a stolen antique.

Wait, it gets worse. Beth - another terrible character who was no match for Catchpole - has a mom who is a hobby hypnotist. First she hypnotizes Lovejoy to remember a license plate. Then she hypnotizes Beth to remember the burglars.

Tinker pounds an incredible amount of booze in this episode. It might drive viewers to drink, too.