During the height of the pandemic, I was desperate for “feel good” TV. While I normally gravitate towards serious dramas, that was a time when I needed to find refuge in sweetness, in a more of a Zen approach to narrative storytelling, in being distracted by kindness and hope, decency and optimism. It’s clear I’m not the only one who felt that way, proven by the phenomenons Ted Lasso and Schitt’s Creek became during those years. Not that either show wouldn’t have done so at any other time, but coming out as they did during the pandemic, these two shows really hit the emotional bullseye, tapping into the zeitgeist, delivering positivity, kindness and sweetness to a nation desperately in need of it.
Now I find myself strangely in need of some goodness again, and, thankfully, Detectorists has come to my rescue. An unbelievably simple but sweet show that aired from 2014 to 2017 and 
is now available to stream on Freevee (through Prime Video), Detectorists stars Toby Jones as Lance and Mackenzie Crook as Andy, two guys for whom metal detecting has become more of a passion and a way of life than just a hobby to pass the time. There is a poetry in the way they approach their passion, as they trudge across farms and fields of England with their trusty detectors, listening for a faint ping to indicate the site of possible buried treasure. An awful lot has happened in these open fields in the English countryside, a lot of history could be buried here, and Lance and Andy can’t help but be just a bit romantic about it all.
But Detectorists isn’t just about two dorky guys who love to look for buried treasure. And that’s what’s so perfect about it. It’s about people who are just unabashedly themselves, who find joy in what they love and have found other people like them. Life is made up of dreaming, of poetry, of romanticizing the things we see our own brand of romance in.
Lance and Andy’s lives aren’t perfect, certainly. Andy has a girlfriend who is trying to get him to get a real job and Lance is trying to get over a girlfriend who dumped him, and they both are dealing with rival detectorists who are trying to home in on their territory. It’s all very sordid.
There is a great cast of characters to fill out this show that’s set in a small town in the country in England. Detectorists is all small-town charm, very English, very sweet, a great escape from the darkness.
And what a reminder of how wonderful Toby Jones is as an actor. I’ve always been a fan, but Detectorists truly puts him in another category. And all credit goes to Mackenzie Crook, who not only co-stars in Detectorists, but also created it, wrote it and directed most of the episodes. He’s a really strange-looking guy, best known for playing the pirate Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, who probably had a hard time getting cast as an ordinary joe, so he had to write a show for himself in order to be normal. Hey, if that’s what you have to do, do it. And if it ends up being this wonderful, I guess that’s just an added bonus for the rest of us.