Could huge BBC show Lovejoy filmed in Suffolk return?

The BBC show Lovejoy, which ran on Sunday evenings between 1986 and 1994 and starred actor Ian McShane in the lead role as a roguish antiques dealer, was mostly filmed in Suffolk and Essex.

Around 15 million viewers regularly tuned in to see the antics of lovable scoundrel Lovejoy wheeling and dealing in locations such as Sudbury, Bures, Long Melford, Cavendish and Lavenham.

Lovejoy was filmed in Long Melford (Image: Newsquest)

In a recent interview with The Guardian, McShane spoke about how the hit TV show could make a return to our screens. 

The 81-year-old said: "People have forever been talking about Lovejoy. I said: 'Give me a million dollars and I’ll tell you how to do Lovejoy again. I’ll give you four words, you give me a million and I’ll make it a success.' 

"Do you know what the four words are? I’ll give you them for free. “Make it a woman.” In the series, I had a daughter.

Lovejoy in Suffolk (Image: Newsquest)

"So the idea would be to bring back his daughter and have some attractive, very good actor in her 40s play the part. That would be the way to do it."

The show was great for the area as it gave a massive tourism boost as a result. 

In 2015 there was speculation the TV show could be making a return.

McShane has always maintained he would not reprise the role although he has hinted that he might consider a cameo role in a show focussing on Lovejoy’s son or daughter as the new central character.