Detectorists (Series 3)

For those of you who haven’t seen this television program, it’s about metal detecting, and looking for gold, but it’s so much more than that.

This show is a sleeper. If you have ever lived in the UK, you will recognize the characters, and their situations: these are guys that drink a couple of pints in the pub and talk about the future. They each have dreams, mostly to escape their humdrum lives and their joint hope is to be the ones to find the next big discovery of buried Viking treasure or Roman gold coins.

It is also a metaphor of our quest for a spiritual life while working at unfulfilling jobs, or raising our pre-school children. In other words, normal lives.

Series 3 Finale

My daughter, Rosanna, hates it when I give away the endings to TV shows and movies, so I shall endeavour to explain what happened without spoiling the plot.

Last night, on PBS, the last three episodes (from 2017) were aired. Because it has taken such a long time to unfold the full, bucolic tale, these three were almost breathtaking in the speed by which the events passed. (Unfortunately, PBS also had issues with images freezing during all of their shows last night, so I got a bit frustrated with the station, at times.)

Mackenzie Crook, the actor who plays Andy, is also the writer and director of the series. All credit goes to him for his subdued performances, and his astute observations of life.

Lance, his partner in the search, is played to perfection by Toby Jones, all wide-eyed and thoughtful. (The title of this clip is misleading, so be aware of the irony.)

In the third series, Lance does find a gold coin, but a magpie steals it before he can get a photo of it in situ. This sets up the co-operative effort by the Danebury Metal Detecting Club to search that field before a development company comes in to build on the land.

In the end, the DMDC find nothing of value, but all rivalries and infighting have been healed and our heroes achieve their lifelong dreams, without finding any treasure.

Then as the camera pans up and away from Lance and Andy returning to Lance’s car, parked by the closest tree, the magpie reveals his secret horde…

That was the most satisfying conclusion to a series I have ever witnessed.