As good as ever.
Detectorists - Series 3
Looking forward to watching it!
Just watched it - brilliant. Understated comedy leavened with sadness, the surprise final sequence rhapsodic and moving. A truly great sitcom. Hats off to Mackenzie Crook!
I hope they dont resort to the flashback too often as it's a makeweight - as if they've run out of ideas?
True - but what a flashback!
There's either something wrong with me or with Crook's writing because watching this ep I didn't know where I was. WTF happened to their jobs in Africa? And why have they moved into her mum's house? Lance's daughter's gone from being missed to being a burden overnight and where did his new ladyfriend come from? Was it all explained in the xmas special I missed?
I love the sitcom subject and setting and tone and especially the characters but I'm finding myself frequently lost in the mists of all this romantic imagery taking over from the present day narrative which is becoming as mysterious and unexplained as the history from the dark ages they're obsessed with. 
Other than that it was great.
Personally, I thought tonight's episode - the second of series three - the weakest yet: hope it's not indicative of the rest!
I found it interesting as I have most of the this unusual sitcom but there's just too much going on in the way of story lines. I'm still waiting for old story lines to be concluded and here's Crook introducing more and more. Too much of it is also on the border of comedy and soap opera and I'd like a bit more comedy obviously as it's called a sitcom!
I'm not sure if it's his ambition or lack of writing experience at fault but he's clearly meandering in all directions at the expense of narrative clarity. Trying too hard with the historical romance thing and not hard enough to keep it either realistic or consistent imo.
This series is going nowhere...slowly - usually part of its innate charm but not this time around!
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 12th November 2017, 12:21 PMThere's either something wrong with me or with Crook's writing because watching this ep I didn't know where I was. WTF happened to their jobs in Africa? And why have they moved into her mum's house? Lance's daughter's gone from being missed to being a burden overnight and where did his new ladyfriend come from? Was it all explained in the xmas special I missed?
Their jobs in Africa are finished. They were only going to be there for a year, as explained in the Christmas Special.
They've moved into her mum's house to save on rent so they can buy a house.
Lance's daughter wasn't living with him before. When you live with people they annoy you. And she's possibly been living there for the last year.
Lance met Toni at his work, as shown in the Christmas Special.
It's not Crook's fault you missed an episode!
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 19th November 2017, 6:52 PMI found it interesting as I have most of the this unusual sitcom but there's just too much going on in the way of story lines. I'm still waiting for old story lines to be concluded and here's Crook introducing more and more. Too much of it is also on the border of comedy and soap opera and I'd like a bit more comedy obviously as it's called a sitcom!
I don't think it's fair to say "it's called a sitcom". Maybe it shouldn't be called a sitcom. I regard it as dramedy. Why do tv shows have to be squashed into boxes, why can't they have funny bits and serious bits, just like real life?
What old storylines are you wanting concluded?
Quote: DMDC @ 24th November 2017, 11:55 AMTheir jobs in Africa are finished. They were only going to be there for a year, as explained in the Christmas Special.
They've moved into her mum's house to save on rent so they can buy a house.
Lance's daughter wasn't living with him before. When you live with people they annoy you. And she's possibly been living there for the last year.
Lance met Toni at his work, as shown in the Christmas Special.It's not Crook's fault you missed an episode!
No, it's the effing BBC's again!!! They excluded the Xmas special from the iplayer. Not very helpful when your story arc formatted sitcom/comdram depends on you catching every episode to know what's going on. This was supposed to be one of the main functions of the iplayer concept, for you to get up to date with series when you've missed an episode on TV!!! But in the Beeb's infinitely strange take on wisdom they pull the most crucial episode! 
Nobjobs.
fs. ep 3 was very good imo, my favourite of this series easily. Still an awful lot going on in terms of plotlines but had some genuine humour as well which in truth has taken 2nd fiddle to the drama and busy narratives lately and probably overall. There's little doubting now that Simon & Garfunkel bring a this show back towards the comedy, as subtle as it may at times be. Also the magpie scene was a gem.
Mackenzie Crooks hat seems to have a BCG logo on it! Anyone recognise the make??
Quote: Ravi Shamladd @ 30th November 2017, 10:07 PMMackenzie Crooks hat seems to have a BCG logo on it! Anyone recognise the make??
https://store.goorin.com/mens-hats/shapes/cadets/private-cotton-cadet-hat
WOW! How on earth did you find that?!
Now all I've got to do is grow two foot and lose 15 stone and I'll look just like him!