Lance is alone in the British Museum, standing in front of a glass case. The label reads late Saxon gold, finder: Lance Stater. He asks a passing stranger to take his photo with his old SLR camera. Before he can tell them he is the one who found it, they walk away. Andy should have been here. The script notes he leaves looking very small and sad.
Your host Katie is joined by Ellie (Instagram: @miss_detectorist, YouTube: Miss Detectorist) for Series 2, Episode 7 of the BAFTA-winning BBC comedy drama Detectorists, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, which aired on BBC as a Christmas special in December 2015.
Back in the field, Lance is sitting in the mud with a wasp circling his tea when Andy appears, back from Botswana, worldly wise and looking well. He refers to Botswana as home without quite meaning to. They almost hug but don't. Lance tells him the astell looked a bit like a wild animal trapped in a cage, and that he hasn't found so much as a signal since he handed it in.
At the Tuesday club meeting Lance gives his slide presentation, swollen cheek from the wasp sting, and the final slide is the photo of him at the museum. Everyone claps. Then Sheila points out the hooded figure in the background with the very long hands. Before anyone can say much, the projector catches fire and Russell unleashes the fire extinguisher on the entire room. That's the thanks I get, he says. Terry does not approve of the language.
In the pub by candlelight, Sheila is certain she saw something. A journalist from the Eastern Daily Press arrives, calls Lance Slater instead of Stater, asks whether the find contained any diamonds and gold, and when Lance mentions thinking about a trip to Dorset writes down Australia. Lance gives up. The next morning at the work yard, he discovers Jim the mechanic is no longer with us. He was your dad, wasn't he, Lance says to the new mechanic Tony, who has just slid out from under a vehicle and was clearly not expecting the dead parrot routine. He was. You've got his same pause hands. Tony gets on with the carburetor.
Terry sends Lance back to basics with Hugh's VK30. Hugh takes the CTX out with its enormous coil. Lance finds nothing. Hugh finds his first hammered coin and is thrilled. Lance watches and says sorry. A conversation about Tutankhamun and curses and how the curse was only broken when the mummy was returned to the tomb sets something moving in Lance's head. He visits the coin dealer opposite the British Museum. Then he goes alone to a field, digs a hole, and tips out a velvet pouch of brand new gold sovereigns bought with his reward money. He fills the hole. There is a breeze. The birds are very clear.
Back at the yard, Tony has fixed the TR7. It wasn't actually her dad, she says. She was joking. Would she like a cup of tea? Go on then. One sugar. He takes one sugar too. As he walks away the lights come on.
Featuring Toby Jones as Lance and Mackenzie Crook as Andy.
Find Ellie at @miss_detectorist on Instagram and YouTube.
For more metal detecting chat, interviews, and the history behind the finds, follow Katie and the Detecting History Podcast on Instagram and YouTube at @detectinghistorychannel, and listen on all major podcast platforms.
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