Lovejoy reboot coming from the makers of Slow Horses – but one huge question remains
Ian McShane has a bold idea for the reboot
Lovejoy is coming back! The producers behind Slow Horses have acquired the rights, and with a reboot in the works, viewers will all be asking the same question.
There are all sorts of reboots and remakes of ’80s British telly coming up. Dalziel and Pascoe are returning this year, with Kerry Godliman and Nina Singh playing the titular detectives.
A new version of A Woman of Substance (still the biggest Channel 4 series of all time) is due to air this month with Vera star Brenda Blethyn. Also, Threads (one of the most traumatising films ever aired on the BBC) is getting remade too.
So, what’s next from the back catalogue? Lovejoy, one of the BBC’s most beloved Sunday evening shows from a bygone era.
Who’s making the Lovejoy reboot?
See-Saw Films, the same production company behind Slow Horses and Heartstopper, is bringing a new take on Lovejoy to our screens.
According to Variety, plans are underway for a “contemporary reimagining” of the series, which ran on the BBC from 1986 to 1994. The producers have acquired the rights to John Grant’s original novels.
If you’re unfamiliar with the series, Lovejoy followed Ian McShane’s (of John Wick and Deadwood fame) titular “irresistible rogue” antiques dealer.
Operating in rural Essex and Suffolk, he had a knack for unearthing cheap, valuable treasures, flirting with everyone he met, and breaking the fourth wall.
Whether it’ll carry on in the latter vein (though it should, given Fleabag’s popularity) remains to be seen.
As fans have written online, it was “perfect Sunday evening viewing”. Another viewer hailed Lovejoy as “possibly the most wonderful character you’ve never heard of”.
Who will play Lovejoy?
Well, that’s the big question, isn’t it? It’s yet to be confirmed who’ll play Lovejoy in the reboot, nor do we know the extent of the show’s “reimagining”.
Will McShane reprise his role? It seems unlikely, given the actor’s resistance to the idea – but he did have another pitch.
“They keep asking me to come back and do a Lovejoy series. I said, ‘Get a girl to do it’,” he told Shortlist. “You need that demographic now. It would be great.”
Remember, Lovejoy had a daughter. In McShane’s words, “why don’t they do that?”
He echoed this in another interview with The Guardian. “You know he had a daughter? Well, you could have 30 minutes of ‘Lovejoy’s coming back’ and then this gorgeous blonde walks through the door. That could work,” he suggested.
Though, to be clear, he also said: “I have fond memories of it but no wish to do it again.”
When is it out?
It’s unclear when the Lovejoy reboot will air, nor do we know where it’ll be available to watch.
Given See-Saw Films’ relationship with several streaming platforms and broadcasters, it could be up for grabs.
However, we know the character is in good hands. Grant’s agent, Lisa Moylett, said (via Deadline): “Jonathan Gash created an extraordinarily vivid and complex Lovejoy. A morally ambiguous, often unpleasant anti-hero brought to life through taut prose and page-turning stories steeped in the shadowy world of antiques.
“It was essential that any new adaptation kept the books front and centre. See-Saw’s bold, assured vision, led by Lisa Gilchrist and Helen Gregory, demonstrated exactly how to preserve the books’ wit and grit while reimagining them for today’s audience.”
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