Life

Are you watching? Detectorists

Lance (Toby Jones) and Andy (Mackenzie Crook) are back for a third series of Detectorists
Lance (Toby Jones) and Andy (Mackenzie Crook) are back for a third series of Detectorists Lance (Toby Jones) and Andy (Mackenzie Crook) are back for a third series of Detectorists

MACKENZIE Crook's brilliant BBC4 sitcom Detectorists is back for a third and final series of metal detecting-themed gentle comedy.

'Gentle comedy' and 'BBC' in the same sentence is usually enough to prompt Last of The Summer Wine-flavoured dry heaves, but the Bafta-winning Detectorists is a superior, non-emetic offering.

Middle-aged detectorist chums Andy (Crook) and Lance (Toby Jones) happily while away their afternoons sweeping electronic wands back and forth across the local fields in an endless search for ancient hoards while enjoying expertly scripted deadpan 'man chat' and discussing the tragicomic peculiarities of their lives in the sleepy village of Danebury.

In series three, Andy, wife Becky (Rachel Stirling) and their baby Stanley are making the best of living with Becky's mother (Diana Rigg) as Lance struggles to integrate his teenage daughter Kate (Alexa Davies) and new girlfriend Toni (Rebecca Callard) into his fastidiously kept flat/life.

Meanwhile, a renewable energy company has set its sights on turning the detectorists' preferred patch into solar farm – just as Andy and Lance may have unwittingly stumbled upon a major hoard.

Wonderfully written and performed to perfection, Detectorists remains a glacially paced TV tonic for the soul.

:: Wednesdays at 10pm on BBC4, catch up now via iPlayer.