Mackenzie Crook

Charming show Detectorists (BBC Four), is a new comedy written by, directed by, and starring Mackenzie Crook. Apart from local eccentric Larry Bishop's land, which has never been gone over with a metal detector before, it's not especially new ground. A pair of oddball middle-aged men, metal detectorists working a ploughed field, find shotgun caps, blakeys, a ringpull ('83, Tizer) and - beep beep beep beep beep - ancient history student Sophie! Circa 1990, I'd guess, certainly much younger than Lance and Andy, whose collected dreams suddenly aren't just about Saxon treasures.

We're talking nerds, and nerdy male friendship, midlife crises, all that. But it's sharp, nicely observed, good to look at, with lovely understated performances from Crook and Toby Jones.

Detectorists, BBC Four, review: 'first-rate writing'

Mackenzie Crook's BBC Four comedy has all the makings of a classic sitcom.

Mackenzie Crook's understated comedy Detectorists sees he and Toby Jones play metal detector enthusiasts whose finds rarely amount to more than a vintage biscuit wrapper ("mint Viscount, '75") or ring-pulls ("'83 Tizer"). As you might expect from an actor who graduated from The Office, there is a hint of Ricky Gervais in the writing, most notably in Jones's delusional loser Lance, but there's no cruelty. Mostly, the humour is located in boredom, though there is a good joke about Fiona Bruce and a brief turn by an agreeably eccentric farmer, who seems to have wandered in from Withnail & I.

There's an oddly inviting melancholy to this new sitcom, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, and starring him and Toby Jones as two unlikely friends with a mutual love of metal detecting. Despite an almost parodically dull premise - we join the pair on a series of unfruitful detecting jaunts - the careful performances and conscientious restraint of the script mean the world of metal detecting, hardwired with self-delusion and slowly corrosive hope as it is, soon reveals itself to be a poignant microcosm of life itself.

Radio Times review

"Ringpull... '83... Tizer." It's another disappointing discovery for metal detectorists Andy and Lance. And yet this new six-parter proves that a sitcom needn't be about Big Issues to work its magic.

When they're not buzzing around ploughed fields, or listening to lectures on buttons, this Poundland Time Team is optimistically plotting the future unearthing of a Saxon hoard. They're like a more likeable version of The Fast Show's nerdy Offroaders. Andy (Mackenzie Crook, who also writes and directs) is a cleaner in a long-term relationship with tolerant Becky (Rachael Stirling); his friend Lance (Toby Jones) is a forklifter taken advantage of by his ex, Mags (Lucy Benjamin).

Into their provincial world wanders history student Sophie - destined, you feel, to shake things up a bit. She's played by Aimée-Ffion Edwards, unrecognisable from her turn in Sky1's Walking and Talking.

Detectorists is low-key and rambling, but warm, richly observed and gorgeously filmed. Already it feels like a glittering comedy find.

Mackenzie Crook interview

Mackenzie Crook talks coin collecting, highbrow comedy and why he won't be back for The Office spin-off, Life on the Road.

Mackenzie Crook: 'I've had to learn to speak up'

Mackenzie Crook talks about Detectorists, his affectionate BBC Four sitcom which salutes the male hobby.

Mackenzie Crook on Detectorists

Whether or not you find the pastime interesting, the idea is intriguing. In the past few months, when telling people what I've been working on, the reaction has been strangely positive.

Mackenzie Crook unearths metal detector sitcom

Mackenzie Crook has now written and directed a BBC Four sitcom about metal detector enthusiasts, which was screened in Edinburgh on Monday.