Mackenzie Crook

Pastoral sitcom Detectorists returns for a second series, with Mackenzie Crook's hangdog Andy struggling to find both employment and his sense of masculinity following the birth of baby Stan when Becky heads back to work. Toby Jones's sad-sack Lance is still finding it hard to accept that ex-wife Maggie is gone, but Andy has a plan to get him on the internet dating scene. Meanwhile, a mysterious German stranger arrives at the Danebury metal detecting club, seeking help to find the wreckage of a war plane.

Mackenzie Crook: what's in Detectorists series 2

Mackenzie Crook spills the beans about the new series - and promises that Simon and Garfunkel will be back.

Detectorists - Series 2 review

Although Detectorists can make you laugh, it's always in an understated way, almost as if '...' is a punchline.

Mackenzie Crook interview

Why did Mackenzie Crook turn down Pirates of the Caribbean to make a BBC Four comedy?

Detectorists: series 2 preview

Have they got a bit more budget for the second series of Detectorists? The opening episode starts with a historical battle... a big set piece that only serves to emphasise contrast between the drama of the past and the mundanity of the enthusiasts trying to connect with it, though the smallest of items.

Detectorists trailer undermines its subtle brilliance

Mackenzie Crook's BBC Four sitcom Detectorists wasn't just the finest British comedy series of 2014, it was one of the finest British programmes.

The first series of this comedy rested as deep below the surface as the long lost treasures hunted by Andy and Lance, also known as Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones. Those who dug it out from the schedules will have found it to be a magical and heart-warming comedy, later awarded with the gold the screen pair seek in the shape of a Bafta award.

Everything is ever so-slightly out of reach for Andy and Lance in this gentle meander, which basks beneath marshmallow cloud blobs above a hushed countryside, their very first sweep across the screen bringing them as agonizingly close to bounty as at the end of the first run.

The dexterity of Crook's writing and the performances knit together with rare ease such disparate threads as naked calendars, breast milk, and a perfect analysis of the most irritating ways to answer a question on University Challenge. A quiet contentment flows through this world and through them into ours, and the humility of the writing is almost bashful of its talent.

Mackenzie Crook interview

Mackenzie Crook is the self-effacing actor who swapped Hollywood for rural Suffolk and the chance to make his own comedy series about metal 'detectorists'.

Video: Mackenzie Crook on finding TV gold

His hapless on-screen character might have little luck finding treasure but Mackenzie Crook has had no trouble scooping up prizes.

He wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy series Detectorists and landed two BAFTAs for the first season.

Ahead of the second series starting on BBC Four, Mackenzie told BBC Breakfast of why he thinks the show has done so well.

Detectorists starts again on BBC Four on Thursday 29 October.

Interview extra: Mackenzie Crook & Toby Jones

TV Choice caught up with the series' writer, director and star Mackenzie Crook, who plays Andy, and Toby Jones, who plays Lance, to find out more about male hobbies, friendship and how it feels to have struck gold with this double BAFTA award-winning show...