REVIEW: Detectorists returns this Christmas and brings a slice of summer to our screens

I discovered the series during lockdown and it has become one of my favourite BBC productions to date.

The series is based around two detectorists, Andy (Mackenzie Crook) and Lance (Toby Jones), who search through the fields of Essex to try and find relics of England’s past. The series is much more than just metal detecting, but it explores the friendship between Andy and Lance, and the struggles the character’s face navigating the world outside of detecting.

In the latest feature-length episode, we see the return of all the show’s favourite characters including Becky (Rachael Sterling), Terry (Gerard Horan), the duo Russel (Pearce Quigley) and Hugh (Divian Ladwa) and Sheila (Sophie Thompson).

In the Boxing Day special, Andy and Lance find a new permission to detect, which they discover early on in the episode that it has major, historic significance which I will not spoil.

This leads to the same antics which we have grown to love from the two central characters, but this time it does test Andy and Lance’s friendship to the limit.

One of the stand out elements to the production, which I presume most of the viewers will agree with, is the therapeutic nature of the English countryside. Just watching Andy and Lance detecting through a field gives me a boost of happiness, which can be hard to find during the dreary winter.

The only criticism I could find in the episode was that some parts of the storyline could have been turned into full length episodes, but that is just the nature of a Christmas special.

I would recommend this episode and the series to anyone who is a fan of history, metal detecting or BBC comedy. To paraphrase from a previous episode, “metal detecting is the closest we have to time travel.”