Detectorists: Better Late than Never

I came late to detectorists. To be accurate, everything (three series and one special) other than the 2022 Christmas special had been broadcast before I’d even heard of it. That’s how out of touch with current TV I am.

I like Mackenzie Crook. I like him as an actor, because no matter what the director and/or writer intended for his character, he always seems to be coming from a slightly unexpected angle. I like him as a writer, because I think his take on Worzel Gummidge not only shows a deep affection for and knowledge of a much-loved TV original, but he manages to update it in a way that makes it modern in a completely logical and unfussy way which also enhances the story. And I think Crook’s Gummidge falls into the tradition of such writers as Alan Garner, Susan Cooper and even Tolkien and White in being rooted in Britain and Britishness: nature, folklore, poetry and tradition. So why hadn’t I watched detectorists? Who knows. Now I have, though.

I am, as noted above, a sucker for anything with that connection to folklore and history. There’s a lot of stuff, books/tv/film, which pretends to understand that, but doesn’t really, but detectorists does, by the very nature of its subject. Everything about the show from the landscapes and stories down to the music used throughout, contributes to something that has real heft, but carries it lightly until it is needed.

The show doesn’t take itself too seriously: Lance and Andy love their hobby, but they know there is a trace of ridiculousness to it, and they can make their own jokes about it. But it’s important too that the people who do voice scepticism about it are those – Becky, Toni, Veronica, Kate – who have strong bonds of affection with Lance and Andy.

Lance and Andy live in the real world. So importantly, and so rarely among characters in TV programmes, they watch TV! Only Connect, University Challenge, and all the rest.  And they, and their families are real people: none of them are perfect, they hide things from each other, fall out over trivialities, sort things out, have random elements to their backstories that fill out their characters and don’t always have to lead to a story line.

Perhaps the most magnificent part of detectorists as a TV show is the way the supporting characters are handled. Each of them feels like a fully rounded person, not just an feed to the main characters, or a way of developing plot. To pick just two, I’ll mention Sheila and Toni.

Sheila, the wife of the chairman of the metal detecting club, is a comic character who could easily have been a caricature. She has no direct interest in metal detecting, but she loyally supports her husband Terry in his passion, just as he loyally supports her in her dancing. They are at once a totally faithful rendering of the sort of middle-aged, middle class retired couple we all know, and a superb absurdist pairing that can generate a wonderful twist to any scene. And the tension that builds because sometimes they do twist a scene, and sometimes don’t, only makes it funnier.

Toni arrives when we already know the main characters and how they interact. It’s a mature story with a stable cast and plot, yet she integrates into it wonderfully, as if she had always been just around the corner. Everything about her seems to harmonise with the basic character: her dry wit, her slightly oddball life, her open heart. When she sits on a pallet of vegetables and throws potatoes at Lance, the automatic response as a viewer is to say that it is, of course, exactly what Toni would do. Blindingly funny, but also utterly plausible.

And finally, something that was an important part of the heart of the show: Diana Rigg as Veronica and Rachael Stirling as Becky. When I first started watching, I kept thinking that Becky reminded me of Diana Rigg, and when I realised that Rachael was actually Diana’s daughter, it all made sense. And then to have Diana turn up, playing her real daughter’s fictional mother. They were both, of course, wonderful throughout. But for Crook to give Rachael/Becky the gift of being able to grieve for her loss in the 2022 Christmas special was a special piece of TV. I’m glad I got to see them together.

detectorists was, and is, wonderful. Now that I’m all caught up, perhaps he might get an idea for another series?