Series three of the BAFTA-winning BBC comedy drama Detectorists, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, is already building its tension quietly and well. This episode opens with the magpies watching from above as Lance attempts to detect a footpath, interrupted every thirty seconds by a rambler wanting to know if he's found any gold. There are fifty of them coming. The boys pack up, head to the lunch tree, and find that the Roman grots and party facts accumulating in their pouches are starting to suggest the field they are about to lose is finally giving something up.
Host Katie is joined by Emma Youell (@emloveoldstuff), fresh from a Norfolk weekend that produced a Roman duck brooch with traces of red and blue enamel still on the back. The two of them move through an episode full of escalating pressure. Art and Paul arrive at the lunch tree in suspiciously generous mood, waving a white flag and offering to share permissions. Lance and Andy respond with the Jimmy Waffle. Chinny reckon, says Paul, and off Simon and Garfunkel trudge.
Back at the flat, Lance is waiting to have a word with Kate. She distracts him with the reappearance of the tennis player poster, mentions there might be a squirrel, and disappears to work. Lance spends a considerable amount of screen time going room to room with a broom. It is Tony who immediately clocks Kate was winding him up, and who then suggests hypnotherapy for his seasickness. The session that follows is a masterclass in Lance being Lance. He cannot be on a beach because he burns. He cannot sink into a carpet because he lives on the first floor and Mrs. Morris downstairs will not be happy. He is eventually given an umbrella. When he emerges, he tells Tony he was out like a light. Tony notes the doctor had her head in her hands.
The episode closes with a development that changes everything. Terra Firma, the newly renamed Dirt Sharks, have quietly offered obstruction clearance services to the solar energy company and landed the permission on the boys' own field. Art and Paul arrive on a tiny scooter. Solar John, magnificently unimpressed by all of them, tells them to share and let the first there have choice of field. Lance and Andy stride off. I know you are but what am I, Lance calls back over his shoulder. The magpies watch them go. Stay for the post-credits scene.
Featuring: Andy (Mackenzie Crook), Lance (Toby Jones), Tony (Orion Ben), Terry (David Sterne), Russell (Pearce Quigley), Louise (Rachel Stirling-Watson), Sheila (Sophie Thompson).
Find Emma at @emloveoldstuff on Instagram. 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. Shop at Regton and use promo code DHPODCAST for 10% off selected items at checkout.
","author_name":"Katie MacDoyle"}