Detectorists

There is one uncredited star in the Detectorists, its the British summer. It does exist, and somehow they managed to film the whole thing in glorious summer.

I've just watched episode 3 of the second series, and its a bleak November day at the time of writing this review. Just seeing the warm sun & verdant greenery brings a smile of nice things remembered. Add in some brilliant writing, top notch acting, mild eccentricity and a dash of the absurd, and the result is something very special.

A great example of the humour in the Detectorists is in the episode I've just watched. Without giving away anything, Lance tells Andy about the time his bed was cut in half by an ex girl friend who used a chainsaw to do the deed. After a pause Andy asks "Lengthways or sideways?". No expression of surprise, no mention of why Lance (a very mild mannered man) has ended up with his bed being cut in half. No questions about what sort of person the ex was nor how Lance could have ever provoked her to do such a thing. Lance and Andy acted like it was a perfectly normal thing that could have happened to anyone. I laughed out loud.

?..........But I love this new series. It's not a laugh out loud comedy, but it makes me smile throughout and the half hour episode is finished far too quickly. It's a gentle comedy based on the lives of a metal detectorist club and the characters in that club. There is a mad farmer with imaginary dogs who gives the two main characters permission to scan his fields, except the paddock. No one is ever to go near the paddock! I wonder why? His wife did disappear many years ago, but I have a feeling that will have nothing to do with his aversion to paddock diggers. The characters have been written so well and the direction, also by McKenzie Crook, are intriguingly watchable. Mr Crook is a talented man and after only two episodes I know this will be a favourite with me.

Andy and Lance live in a rural English backwater that on the surface seems boring and uneventful. Mackenzie Crook's genius is to show us the comic gold that lies beneath. I'm not talking of the Saxon gold that our two heroes are searching for, but the ups and downs they face on their journey through life.

While gently making fun of our two under-achievers, the humour never belittles them. Their male obsessions are given a dry, melancholic and often wistful comic voice. Andy and Lance are well meaning, but they can also be naive and boring, loyal and selfish or just total dick heads. However, they are also strangely endearing.They are like us and we learn to love them despite their faults and eccentricities. Loved it!

My faith is restored that there is still at least one person out there who can not only write but direct such an intelligent, unique, and endearing piece of work

I don't know why but I was captured by the very first trailer that I saw and with much anticipation waited for the series to start...... and I was not disappointed.

It has been such a long time since I have felt so totally engaged with a television series on British TV. The fact that it was tucked away on BBC4 is likely to mean that it will be missed by many, but then again if it was shown on the more mainstream channels then many may miss the point.

Previous reviews have already mentioned the warmth and depth of the characters, the excellent writing and how you feel drawn into, and become part of, the world that has been created. But I want to add how stunning the filming has been throughout this series, with some of the shots being absolutely beautiful.

It feels like something very special happened in the production of this series and I feel privileged that I caught it on its first showing.

I only hope it gets the recognition it deserves........

The problem with shows like this is they take them off the air. No nudity, no violence, no laugh track. A person has to actually just sit and enjoy it. You smile, you laugh, you cry. You are not hit over the head by moronic jokes. The acting is superb. Not overacted but perfectly done. Quiet, subtle, honest. Please, someone out there take pity on the mature audience. Not everyone likes the 3 Stooges. Thank you for giving us this show. Don't take it away.