User Reviews

Manfred's evening at The Opera is disturbed by a phone call, a call alerting him to attend his friend Lord Eastleigh, who makes a deathbed request, to get an original artwork into an art gallery, replacing a fake, with the original.

It's definitely a little different to the last few episodes, a curious request for Manfred, but all the times you're thinking that there's a degree of skullduggery at play.

Somewhat convenient that Manfred is a Member of The National Art's committee, that is a plot device, as an MP, you wonder when he ever has time to attend Parliament, or even meet a constituent, you wonder what would have happened to his career if this plan had gone wrong. Was he a little naive here?

I'm stunned at how prolific a young Frank Thornton was, he popped up on so many shows, he was good as The Auctioneer. The highlight for me was the presence of Patricia Hayes, beautifully spoken.

6/10.

Lord Eastleigh makes a deathbed confession to Ben Manfred MP. That he purchased a stolen self portrait of Rembrandt.

Now Lord Eastleigh wants to return the original back to the museum. After his death, Ben Manfred and Eastleigh's son Paul conspire to break into the museum and replace the copy with the original.

Manfred's task does not end there. He wants to track down just who stole the Rembrandt. For that he puts the fake up for auction, thinking that someone would think that Lord Eastleigh' copy is actually the original.

Well I would never have pegged Ben Manfred to be an art thief who would break into a museum. The story is unnecessary convoluted.

I could understand that someone at the art restorer did the switch of the original Rembrandt. Paul's role in the matter was so complex, the episode decided to offer no explanation.

I guess Paul wanted to switch the copy for the original, then sell it on in order to pay his late father's death duties.