Gentleman Thief

A.J. Raffles, man-about-town and compulsive thief, returns in the elegant shape of Nigel Havers for this one-off film that aims to make the Edwardian anti-hero work for a thrill-sated 21st-century audience.

By and large, it works (and will surely return as a series).

The spectacular thefts that the notorious Raffles pulls off are staged with relish, while Edwardian London is made to seem a vibrant, fast-moving place where the old moral certainties are breaking down.

There is love interest - essential when Havers is in the cast - with Frances Barber, as the unhappily-married love of Raffles' life, providing the motivation for his latest heist: the seemingly impossible theft of her husband's prized giant ruby.

Michael French, as smart working-class criminal Ellis Bride, brings a whiff of the street to Raffles' high-society world. The cast even boasts Sir John Mills in a cameo role.

As for the story - well, it's the purest hokum, but it certainly makes for entertaining viewing.

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