The Detectorists Christmas Special is on tonight

[Cocolapew]

BBC 2 at 9pm, just in case anyone didn't realise 🙂

I quite liked it. The characters are all so quirky but likeable (apart from Becky who no way would be with someone like Andy)

I had hoped with it been the Christmas special it may have had more of a festive theme, no idea if detectorists go out in all weathers but a bit of snow or frost and a Christmas party in the pub would've been nice.

I read it like that too. There is a statue near me that has a cat. I have to rub his ear when I walk by. No superstition or anything.

I loved it. I think that it’s slightly fanciful really. All the characters are slightly unreal, the situations slight fantasy, so the idea of it possibly being the HG isn’t so far fetched in the Detectorists universe.

As an aside my brother-in-law has a camper van. He and his wife had booked into a campsite in Suffolk in the summer, turned up after dark and set up camp. In the morning they realised that they were under The Tree!

I love the show so much that I went on holiday near Framlingham last year and went to some of the filming locations/fields.

You are my hero

I only realised watching this that the pub is the one by Framlingham Castle.

I enjoyed it.

When watching the series I'm never sure about Andy and Becky but I know a couple of couples like it irl. In the end Andy being how he is gives her 'permission' to quit and follow her whims.

DH was annoyed by Simon and Garfunkel being twats again after reconciling. My theory is they were twats all along.

Ha ha, it was genuinely the only reason I went to Suffolk!

I didn't get the fire losing people thing and I am warming a little to Becky but I am sick of her job storyline

I did like it but not as good as the series I don't think

Very scripted and poorly acted dare I say - Alice was the least of its problems

I loved it. It outstripped Motherland and any other Christmas special for me. Love the music, the setting, the quiet probing of English oddities. Not quite sure how they got Jesus to visit Colchester but I can forgive them that.

MC is a genius and I wish he'd do more.

I didn't like how they reset the series in order to set the scene again. Made me feel as though watching the last series was a waste of time.

Not quite sure how they got Jesus to visit Colchester but I can forgive them that. He didn't They showed us how the Holy Grail got there though.

That confused me too. The caption that read 'somewhere near Colchester' was meant to be a joke that didn't land for me.

Absolutely loved it. Agree with pp about being led to believe that Becky and Stan had died in the fire. The ending was genius. And now I’ve got the title track in my head again and won’t get it out for weeks.

"Sheila, you're breaking my heart"
"You're shaking my confidence daily".

Brilliant.

CoffeeBoy, there's an overhanging window on a street in Framlingham that's appeared a couple of times in the series and there's great excitement every time we see it.

We really enjoyed it. Rachel Stirling must have found the scene talking about her Mum so hard.

Detectorists is my happy place.

@PriamFarrl only the outside of the pub beside Fram Castle - the inside is somewhere else.

OMG of course there are always more plot lines- now I am scared the writers will read this somehow and not make more! I am desperate for there to be more series of this comedy made- it’s the absolute best.
For example, what about riffing on the boat burial on top of the hill that Becky correctly predicted and that Lance and Andy just missed?

I loved that graphic as a plot device- I kind of hoped that they would do a graphic of the key missing find in more of the episodes with the Detectorist characters on the surface of the earth oblivious to it. Real both to the realities of detecting where massive finds do go unfound and to the bittersweet nature of the comedy. They could make it funny too- a character development point- Hugh’s ‘missed find’ revealed as he walks away from it could be a complete mess of shrapnel or the contents of an old skip. And it’s a suspense point if we can be shown what’s underneath and the characters don’t know, and sometimes they find it and sometimes they don’t.

I think the character of Becky is essential to the series. She’s the realest most fleshed-out and complex one- especially now her mother has passed away. Maggie is too awful to be real ( though great as a villain) , Toni is a vehicle for brilliant one liners though I wanted more time on her to get to know her more as a rounded character and get to know her more as part of the relationship, even if she just talked about carburettors or how much she loved vintage cars. That could explain her being with a idiosyncratic Gollumish obsessive that Lance can be at times. If Toni had her own passionate interest or things going on that would explain why she’s happy with all of that.

i guess I’m saying that we need at least three more series to really get to know everyone and answer all the questions about the various characters in it!

But we do know everything we need to know about the characters - from the preceding seasons and episodes. That is the beauty of MC’s wonderfully economical writing. He has already pretty much sketched out the life stories of the club members, and we’ve had a deep dive into the psyches, personal histories and motivations of both Lance and Andy.

Frankly, given MC’s patent genius and extensive experience of the development of dramatic narrative I’d be inclined to respect his reluctance to squeeze any more out of the exquisite thing he’s made. I certainly wouldn’t want to see it turn into a soap. Or Lost …

Detectorists is on my top three of comedy programmes and I've watched the previous series/special many times. I was slightly disappointed.

Firstly I didn't laugh as much as I have done previously. Overall I can love with that because it was nice to spend some time with the characters again but it is supposed to be a comedy and it felt a bit stressful.

I hadn't realised the actual cottage had burnt down so that makes part of it easier. Not knowing meant that I saw the loss of Andy's dream for a forever home PLUS the death of Becky's mum as just a bit too much for them to have had to cope with. Also Lance not living with Toni was odd (and where did the daughter go because wasn't she living on the boat?).

I thought the Dirt Sharks turning up with a chauffeur/digger was a bit silly tbh especially for a comedy that's so subtle so much of the time.

I think that this role is the best one I've seen the woman who plays Becky in. I thought she was terrible in Hollington Drive. She brings a bit of energy and realism to a group of characters who are lost in their own little world of detecting.

I don't think MC should make a fourth series. I agree with a PP that ending it on the last episode where they all came together and the coins fell from the tree at the end was perfect. I think I had hoped that this special would have been a bit happier.

I have only just rewatched all the series from the start. Doing that just brings up more questions for me!

I forgot to say- I’d love to see the development of the character of the beautifully, beautifully acted Sheila. I love her so much as a character and I really wanted to see her adopted child or past history storyline picked up and explored again. It was all there just in her face when she was being told about Lance’s experience with reconnecting with his daughter. She’s such an excellent actress that just her mannerisms and face said it all. The writers should do justice to that.

When there were the beautiful scenes of Terry and Sheila waving at each other so happily on a rally day (around end of series 3 I think?) I was so worried that the writers would have one of them die because they were such a lovely happy pair and then their stories wouldn’t get told.

And.. did anyone spot what we were told had happened to Sophie in the narrative? She was such a key plot and character development part for all the other characters to react to. But then not mentioned again (maybe I missed it?) from the start of the next series. That seemed odd.

Would have been brilliant to reference her later in the series (maybe her archaeology career took off- or maybe she graduated then went on to do something totally different?). Maybe she set up a Detectorists group wherever she moved to next? It seemed unrealistic that she would have just disappeared without comment from other characters, she was quite clear to the German nazi gold guy that the group were her friends and she clearly liked metal detecting having been in Simon and Garfunkel’s’ group before so I thought they could mention her occasionally even if the actress herself wasn’t available to play the part.

I think Lance going all Gollum was part of the supernatural theme - like the rumbling noise when they found anything.

I suppose I can see why some people thought Becky and Stan had died in the house but I'd read an interview with MC talking about her and how hard it was for her to play the part after the death of her real and fictional mum . He wouldn't have given such a massive spoiler if he had intended to misdirect us so I knew they hadn't died when he went to the ruin. I think he was thinking 'what if' though.