The Cutprice Guignol

When I was a kid, there was nothing I loved more than wandering into our back garden with a spade and a bucket, and digging a great big bloody hole.

Inspired by the gentle archaeology of Tony Robinson’s Time Team, I was determined that I was going to make a find of exceptional historical significance between the overgrown mint plants and the rock garden; functionally, the most I ever came up with were some scraps of decaying newspaper and a few abandoned screws and allen keys from furniture sets that never quite came together the way they were supposed to. But that never stopped me; I can still remember the smell of the fresh, overturned earth, one of the cats lurking on a fencepost nearby to oversee my dig, the absolute zing of excitement that came when I spotted a glint of something in amongst the dirt.

So it’s probably not a particular surprise that I love Detectorists, the 2015 BBC show about metal detectorists Lance (Toby Jones) and Andy (Mackenzie Crook, also the creator and writer of the show). It’s the kind of small-scale premise that really doesn’t have any right to work as well as it does, but it’s a masterpiece, in its own small, strange way. Aside from the brilliance of our two leading men (and God, they are brilliant, Toby Jones especially – his ability to imbue the barest moment with a rich, deep character narrative is almost unmatched), it’s filled-out with a brilliant ensemble, genuinely complex characters, and a beautifully British sense of humour. Dry, occasionally cynical, but ultimately hopeful and willing to cut these characters a break when the time is right, it’s a tonal marvel and just one of the best comedies to come out of this millennium.

Fundamentally, though, I think what has always drawn me to Detectorists is the way it explores and builds on history as part of its central themes and stories. Of course, it’s right there in the title: these people are searching for little pieces of the past, but it’s more than that, too. The show, especially during the second and third seasons, use flashbacks to ancient history to contextualize the land that Lance and Andy detect on – as much as it’s a literal representation of what happened there, it’s also a reflection of the driving forces behind the detectorists who populate the show, their need to reach out and touch a small piece of history, however unlikely it is that they’ll actually find it.

After spending much of my childhood digging holes in the back garden, I went on to get a degree in history, and generally have dedicated quite a bit of my adult life to the same things that Lance and Andy have – the need to feel a connection to what came before us, to find those small pieces of the lives that were lived out before we were even born. As much as the big picture of history is fascinating and important, there’s something humbling about the tiny details of it, the sense of connection that creates, and how, in a world that can often feel completely out of our control, other people have lived and survived and thrived and left behind pieces of themselves for us to find.

Detectorists is a really special show to me for so many reasons, but this is the biggest one – it captures that sense of searching for the past and what that means so beautifully, whether it’s ringpulls or buttons or Saxon gold. Have you seen Detectorists? I would love to hear your takes about it in the comments below!

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(header image via BBC)