Detectorists

''Detectorists'' is a British comedy television series first broadcast on BBC Four in October 2014. It is written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, who also stars alongside Toby Jones.

The series is set in the fictional small town of Danebury in north Essex. The plot revolves around the lives, loves and metal-detecting ambitions of Andy and Lance, members of the Danebury Metal Detecting Club. The main filming location for the series was Framlingham, a small market town in Suffolk.

''Detectorists'' won a BAFTA at the 2015 British Academy Television Awards for Television Scripted Comedy. In May 2019, it was voted 19th in a ''Radio Times'' list of Britain's 20 favourite sitcoms by a panel that included sitcom writers and actors. The series was filmed using a single-camera setup approach. The show had three series from 2014 to 2017, with Christmas specials airing in 2015 and 2022.

Cast

* Mackenzie Crook as Andy Stone, an agency worker who qualifies as an archaeologist during the series. A member of the Danebury Metal Detecting Club (DMDC)
* Toby Jones as Lance Stater, a forklift truck driver for a vegetable wholesaler, and amateur musician. A member of the DMDC
* Lucy Benjamin as Maggie, Lance's ex-wife who runs a New Age supplies shop (series 1, 3)
* Adam Riches as Tony, Maggie's boyfriend, a pizza restaurant manager (series 1)
* Rachael Stirling as Becky, Andy's girlfriend (wife as of series 2), a primary-school teacher
* Gerard Horan as Terry Seymour, a retired policeman who is the president of the DMDC
* Sophie Thompson as Sheila Seymour, Terry's wife
* Pearce Quigley as Russell, a DMDC member
* Divian Ladwa as Hugh, a shy and awkward DMDC member
* Orion Ben as Varde, a mostly silent DMDC member and girlfriend of Louise. Despite appearing in nearly every episode, and being described by members of the DMDC as very talkative, her only lines of dialogue are in series 2, episode 4, and the 2022 Christmas special.
* Laura Checkley as Louise, a forthright DMDC member and girlfriend of Varde
* Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Sophie, a university student studying ancient history (series 1, 2)
* David Sterne as Larry Bishop, an eccentric farmer and landowner (series 1, 2)
* Simon Farnaby as Philip Peters and Paul Casar as Paul Lee, members of "AntiquiSearchers", later "Dirt Sharks", "Terra Firma", and then "Absolut Hunters", a rival metal detecting group. Lance and Andy call them Simon and Garfunkel because of their passing physical resemblance to the folk rock duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Both give their full names when questioned by the police in series 2, episode 5 (echoing the rather different vocal pairing of Peters and Lee)
* Diana Rigg as Veronica, Becky's mother and occasional child-minder for Stanley (series 2, 3). Rigg, who died in 2020, and Stirling were mother and daughter in real life. In the 2022 Christmas special Veronica is stated to have died before the events depicted in it.
* Alexa Davies as Kate, daughter of Lance (series 2, 3)
* Rebecca Callard as Toni, a mechanic and colleague of Lance, who becomes his girlfriend (2015 Christmas special, series 3, 2022 Christmas special)
* Daniel Donskoy as Peter, a German visitor who seeks the DMDC's help in finding the location of his grandfather's aircraft, alleged to have crashed during World War II. He becomes a love interest for Sophie (series 2)
* Jacob and Isabella Hill as Stanley, Becky and Andy's baby (series 2)
* Asa James Wallace as Stanley, Becky and Andy's child (series 3, 2022 Christmas special)

Episodes

Series 1 (2014)

Series 2 (2015)

Series 2 commenced filming in July 2015 and was broadcast from October of that year. The first episode starts with a three-minute sequence showing an Anglo-Saxon priest carrying a holy book and an aestel (a pointer stick similar to that associated with the Alfred Jewel) in a sack and fleeing mounted spearmen. He buries the sack near a standing stone. Time-lapse photography then shows the wooden handle of the aestel decaying, leaving only the jewelled section. The shot pans upwards to reveal Andy and Lance walking across the field in the present day, detecting as they go. Having had no success, they decide to look up the hill. The jewel is shown again, still buried, at the beginning of subsequent episodes.

Christmas Special (2015)

Series 3 (2017)

In March 2017, the BBC released a statement confirming the filming of a third and final series. It was filmed in the summer of 2017 and broadcast from November of that year.

The first episode ends with a historical timeline sequence, backed by the song "Magpie" by The Unthanks. Reviewing the opening episode for ''The Guardian'', Sam Wollaston said: "Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones shine in the third and final series of this beautifully written and performed slice of life."

Christmas Special (2022)

A 75-minute Christmas special was announced in May 2022. The episode aired on BBC Two on 26 December 2022. It was released on DVD in 2023.

Production

''Detectorists'' was announced by the BBC on 31 January 2014. The series was a Channel X and Lola Entertainment co-production.

Although the series is set in Essex, it was mainly filmed in neighbouring Suffolk, with Framlingham used as a major location. Other locations used in filming include Orford, where Orford Primary School was used as the outside of Becky's school, Great Glemham, where interior pub scenes were filmed, and Ipswich. In series 2, the round-tower church at Aldham was used as a recurring location.
One location in Essex was used in ''Detectorists'': the scenes involving Lance's girlfriend Toni's houseboat, 'Elsie', were filmed at Paper Mill Lock, Little Baddow. Locations were sourced by Creative England.

Upon deciding to finish the show at the end of series 3, Crook commented "… it took a while to realise that I did want to do six more episodes to finish. I don't want to make any sort of big, dramatic announcement that 'never again', but I can't see myself going back to it."

Despite ruling out further episodes at the end of series 3, Crook suggested in December 2020 that a fourth series was not out of the question, saying "I'm just starting the process of thinking 'yeah, we should get the old band back together'."

When asked about the possibility of ''Detectorists'' returning for a fourth series after the 2022 Christmas special, Crook responded "I’m going to give the same answer I gave at the end of the third series; "probably not". I guess, dot dot dot, I mean, where can you go after this?".

In December 2024, the BBC screened a 19-minute programme, ''Mackenzie Crook Remembers… Detectorists'', in which Crook reminisces about the making of the series.

Broadcast

Overseas, the series premiered in Australia on 9 November 2015 on BBC First. In the United States, the series premiered on streaming subscription service Acorn TV in August 2015.

Reception

Critical response

Series one of ''Detectorists'' was met with positive reviews from a number of UK and US media outlets. David Renshaw, writing for ''The Guardian'', had particular praise for the "delightful double-act" Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones. Renshaw points to the "biggest ratings BBC4 has ever had for a comedy" as evidence that "''Detectorists'' has clearly struck the sort of gold that Lance and Andy spend hours sweeping the fields for". Rupert Hawksley, writing for ''The Daily Telegraph'', was particularly impressed with Crook's "first-rate writing" and remarked in his review that series one "has all the markings of a classic sitcom".

Ellen E. Jones of ''The Independent'' said that while the show "requires some patience... it has turned out to be one of the best new sitcoms of the year".

In the US media, ''The New York Times'' writer Mike Hale describes ''Detectorists'' as a "distinctive creation – not for everyone, but bound to be fiercely loved by those who fall into its rhythms". Robert Lloyd of the ''Los Angeles Times'' "can't recommend it enough", saying: "Like the ordinary lives it magnifies, ''Detectorists'' has the air of seeming to be small and immense at once, to be about hardly anything and almost everything. It is full of space and packed with life."

When the programme returned for a second series, the response was again positive.

On the completion of the third and final series, ''Radio Times'' website reviewer Mark Braxton wrote "The series finale... is one of the most satisfying conclusions ever. Series one and two both ended in clever and memorable ways: bittersweet and punch-the-air respectively. But the series three finale has a real poetry to it; Crook seems to be saying: 'Yes, that's where we'll leave it – I'm happy with that.'"

In 2019, ''The Guardian'' ranked ''Detectorists'' at number 38 in their list of "The 100 best TV shows of the 21st century".

The series received praise for its authentic portrayal of "a gentler side to maleness and male bonding", with Ben Dowell of ''The Times'' describing the show as being "steeped in a gentle kindness that I hadn't seen before".

Awards and nominations

References

Further reading

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External links

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''Detectorists'' Scripts at BBC WritersDetectorists Filming Locations Map

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2014 British television series debuts
2022 British television series endings
2010s British comedy television series
2020s British comedy television series
BAFTA winners (television series)
BBC television comedy
British English-language television shows
Metal detecting
Television duos
Television shows set in Essex
2010s British sitcoms
2020s British sitcoms
Slice of life fiction