Rachael Stirling

Radio Times review

Lovably spoddish Lance and Andy are struggling to bring anything new to the table - the detectorist club's "Finds Table", that is - bar a couple of old Matchbox cars. But the dream to uncover a Saxon hoard is still alive, now that they've been granted access to some promising farmland.

This week's highlights include a rival gang (led by Horrible Histories' Simon Farnaby), the poignant moment when Lance privately dedicates his song for mandolin to his ex, and the filthy chuckle of Rachael Stirling as Andy's girlfriend Becky.

Detectorists is a breath of fresh air that makes a sunny virtue of its rural settings. It's naturalistic, gently funny and memorably sad.

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.

Veronica (Rachael Stirling), who is really Danny, is bored by her dreary fiance's wedding plans and dreams of escaping her unhappy life with her new love. Danny (Martin Freeman), who is really Veronica, is miserable, too, but wants his old life back. And he/she is very determined as the end of this bittersweet and rather endearing gender-swap drama approaches. There are some tender moments as Veronica/Danny tries to hang on to the life she has become used to but, after a chance meeting with Danny/Veronica (it's not really as confusing as it sounds), she knows that that life isn't really hers at all. So the pair come to an irrevocable and possibly dangerous decision as an electric storm approaches. Though the ending may feel a bit flat, there's still a strong sense that the lives of everyone involved have changed for ever.

The man trapped inside a woman's body (Rachael Stirling) seizes the chance to embark on a lesbian affair. A friend of his in the know complains that he is taking advantage of the girl's ignorance. "You're not who she thinks you are," he says. To which the man/woman replies: "In a way I am. She sees me for who I am, just not for what I am." The problem with all this tortuous nonsense is that it doesn't even work as enjoyable entertainment. There is no suspense or laughter, and there is certainly nothing to be learnt from it. All that remains is Stirling putting on a deep voice amid a mess of pointless gender confusion. As the man/woman says: "This is hard for me to get my head around."

Poor Paterson Joseph - despite the fact his belle Veronica (Rachael Stirling) shows no enthusiasm for their impending nuptials (that would be because Veronica is really Danny...), he's convinced she's just overwhelmed by his proposal. Yes, Boy Meets Girl has had its plot holes. But the reality-warping gender-swap comedy drama is at its finale now and overall it has worked well: Martin Freeman has done a gentle, tender job of revealing his feminine side while Stirling has been scene-stealingly blokey as Danny/Veronica. Tonight the pair finally meet, hatch a plan to return to their former selves and embroil themselves in a few surprising twists and turns along the way.

Martin Freeman and Rachael Stirling keep up the momentum of this gender-swap comedy in the series's penultimate episode. It's easy enough to catch up with the plot: DIY store worker Danny (Freeman) and fashion writer Veronica (Stirling) have swapped bodies after a freak electrical storm. This week, Danny is carted off to a mental health unit after she announces at work that she is not Veronica, but a man named Danny.

The second episode of this body-swap comedy drama, starring Martin Freeman and Rachael Stirling, and it's not yet as terrible as its premise suggests. Tonight ex-wideboy and now fashion journalist Danny (played by Stirling) launches a drunken attack on the fashion industry.

Actress Rachael Stirling's impression of a man trapped in a woman's body is worth watching this so-so comedy-drama for.

If you found yourself trapped in the wrong body, would anyone believe you? That's the predicament facing Veronica and Danny in week two of the sweetly subversive gender-swapping comedy.

Rachael Stirling still has the best time of it as she tries to get her new man's brain around the vagaries of fashion while fending off the romantic advances of her sock-ironing boyfriend Jay (Paterson Joseph).

For Martin Freeman, who now has the body of a DIY store worker and the mind of a frothy fashion journalist, life is an endless round of police cells as he doesn't even know his own name.

But he does know Veronica's name - so why doesn't he simply phone her, instead of constantly barging into her office and home like a total loon?

But there are two more weeks left, so the two leads must be kept apart a little longer. For now, enjoy their discomfort and some lovely performances as they discover how the other half lives.

Martin Freeman is on home turf playing a lovable loser who works in a DIY store until ... dah-da-daaaah ... he is struck by lightning and transmogri-techno-babbled into the body of a mwaah-mwaah fashion journalist played by Rachael Stirling. Fish out of water hilarity ensues. You might think that the premise is the sort of thing that Jim Carrey or Rob Schneider would find behind the sofa on a wet Tuesday, but the two leads have enough chops to pull it off, just about. Also, it has James Lance in it, who tvBite definitely has a bit of a man-crush on. Worth a look. Part one of FOUR, which seems a bit de trop, mind you.