Detectorists · Season 1 · BBC iPlayer
Detectorists Season 1
Detectorists Season 1 is a MUST-WATCH, BollyMeter 9.0/10. 6 episodes on BBC iPlayer from 2 October 2014.
Updated
What BollyAI Thinks
Mackenzie Crook's debut as writer-director-star arrived on BBC Four in October 2014 and won the BAFTA for Best Scripted Comedy the following year - an unusual honour for a show so conspicuously uninterested in being loud. The premise is deceptively narrow: Andy and Lance, members of the Danebury Metal Detecting Club, sweep Essex fields for Anglo-Saxon gold while discussing their careers, relationships and mild existential concerns. Critics clustered on the word 'gentle' but the Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman identified something harder underneath - a 'slice-of-life comedy with enough drama and storytelling to make you passionately invested.' The 100% Rotten Tomatoes score from 39 reviews reflects a near-unanimous view that Crook found a tone British television rarely attempts: unhurried, unironic, specific to place and class in ways that never feel pedagogic.
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The Room
“One of the more enjoyable surprises on television in a long time.”
The Hollywood Reporter“A distinctive creation - not for everyone, but bound to be fiercely loved by those who fall into its rhythms.”
The New York Times
Standout Episodes
The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.
- E1Series 1, Episode 18.7
The opening episode establishes Andy and Lance in their natural habitat - headphones on, eyes down, Essex mud underfoot - and the comedy comes from the gap between the grandeur of their archaeological ambitions and the gentle smallness of what they actually find. Crook's direction, like his writing, refuses to condescend to its subjects.
The moment: Andy's speech about what it means to hold something no one has touched in a thousand years - played completely straight.