Detectorists

I’ve had this on my watchlist for awhile now and eventually persuaded the rest of the family to join me in a rather belated viewing – the show being almost 13-year-olds old by this point.

I think it is safe to say, however that we all felt it was worth the waiting. The show was absolutely delightful and succeeded in so many different ways. Superficially it just showed bucolic scenes of the English countryside in the summertime and could’ve been enjoyed without any dialogue at all. But the words were frequently funny, sometimes profound and often surprisingly moving. All the characters were very real and we cared about them even the ones we didn’t really like!

The writing was clever, the acting understated and so much the better for it and the story arcs of the main characters were short in terms of development but rich and satisfying in their growth and increased understanding of themselves and their relationships with those around them.

The final scene was bittersweet but left us, and the characters with so much left to live for.

We will be moving straight on to season two.