History Series / Detectorists

** The second is the feature-length episode broadcast on Boxing Day 2022; there is nothing Christmassy about it, although [[spoiler: Lance and Andy eventually realise that they have come ''very'' close to discovering an artefact that was used by UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Himself.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: In the 2022 special, Lance persuades a reluctant Andy to play down the significance of his latest find. When Becky unknowingly mentions it to Terry, she angrily gives Andy this treatment for not keeping her in the loop.

* CelebrityCameo: In the 2022 special, Lance and Andy express excitement about possibly meeting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Roberts Professor Alice Roberts]] at the British Museum event. She does indeed briefly show up in the background, but walks away without either of them noticing.

** Lance and Andy [[spoiler: didn't benefit from finding the gold at the end of the last episode.]]
** Phil and Paul [[spoiler: were the beneficiaries of the gold find, as they'd done the paperwork for that particular site. The FriendshipMoment between them and the DMDC has been reversed, and they've not only gone back to being antagonists, they're now ''even worse than ever'' as they are flaunting their new-found wealth.]]

** Offscreen character "Gay Martin". Becky says it's an IronicNickname and goes on to describe an aggressively heterosexual LatinLover stereotype, but she's probably just winding Andy up.

* ScoutOut: Although the DMDC is based in a Scout hut (with some Scouting regalia visible in the background), in the 2022 special Stanley (who is probably old enough to be in the Beavers [[note]] the Scouting section for children aged between 6 and 8 in the UK [[/note]] by this point) is a member of something called the "Saturday Club" which meets there.

* CowboyCop: The mayor implies that Terry used to be one of these. Terry, who proudly states that he used to wear a leather jacket and drive a Ford Cortina when he was a policeman, does nothing to dissuade people of this notion.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Lance and Andy.

* ExpoSpeakGag: The following sounds precisely like TechnoBabble but since ShownTheirWork is in effect, it's all correct jargon.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In each series, the audience are shown where treasure is hidden whereas Lance and Andy are of course subject to the RuleOfPerception and have to find it for themselves.

* LoveTriangle: A couple in Series 1, both [[TriangRelations Type 4]]:

* ThievingMagpie: One makes an appearance in the third series and steals a coin Lance has just dug up. [[spoiler:Over the course of centuries, a local magpie family has picked up every coin in the field and hidden it in their nest]].

** Phil when his beloved Arado is run over by Lance's car.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Peter the German. Initially set up as a nice guy and potential love interest for Sophie it's eventually revealed that he's been lying to the DMDC all along and is in league with the Dirtsharks to loot the crash site. In the final episode it's revealed that he's banned from owning a metal detector in Germany due to disturbing war graves and he has a confrontation with Terry where he sneeringly tries to pull a NotSoDifferentRemark.]]

* MacGuffin: The Saxon burial hoard in Series One, the WWII plane wreck in Series Two.

* WrenchWench: Toni, an archetypal {{Tomboy}}.

** Phil and Paul [[spoiler: were the beneficiaries of the gold fund, as they'd done the paperwork for that particular site. The FriendshipMoment between them and the DMDC has been reversed, and they've not only gone back to being antagonists, they're now ''even worse than ever'' as they are flaunting their new-found wealth.]]

* GrailInTheGarbage: Literally so in the 2022 Christmas special.

** Lance and Andy didn't benefit from finding the gold at the end of the last episode.
** Instead, Paul and Phil were the beneficiaries as they'd done the paperwork for that particular site. The FriendshipMoment between them and the DMDC has been reversed, and they've not only gone back to being antagonists, they're now ''even worse than ever'' as they are flaunting their new-found wealth.
** Andy and Becky's dream cottage is revealed to have burned down. With Becky's mum having died, they've moved into her old place.
** Lance and Toni are no longer living together, although they are still a couple.

** It's done again in the 2022 Christmas special, in which a sequence shows how [[spoiler: the [[PublicDomainArtifact?from=Main.HolyGrail]] went from being used at the Last Supper to being buried in a field in rural Essex.]]

* [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim: The Character Died With Her]]: Becky's mum is revealed to have died between the end of Series 3 (2017) and the 2022 Christmas special — as did Creator/DianaRigg.

* ChristmasEpisode: One was produced in between series 2 and 3 [[spoiler:when Andy briefly returns from his dig in Botswana and Lance is struggling with the so-called "curse of the gold"]]. There is dismal weather, festive decorations and a tingling of the supernatural amongst the [=DMDC=] as they huddle around the pub fire.

** Instead, Paul and Phil were the beneficiaries as they'd done the paperwork for that particular site. The FriendshipMoment between them and the DMDC has been reversed, and they've gone back to being antagonists who are '‘even worse than ever'' as they are flaunting their new-found wealth.

* AmicableExes: Lance and Maggie in Series 1, who see each other nearly every day despite the fact that they're divorced. {{Deconstructed}} quite brutally by the end though: Lance hangs around and does boring domestic tasks that Maggie's new husband doesn't want to bother with in the futile hope that she'll come back to him one day, while Maggie is just using Lance for free labour and [[spoiler:mainly keeps him around because she learned about his lottery win and hopes she can convince him to give her some of his money]]. Fortunately Lance comes to his senses and stops supporting them, resulting in Maggie and Tony being PutOnABus for Series 2.
* [[AsHimself As Herself]]: Professor Alice Roberts, presenter of many archaeological Tv shows, appears in the 2022 Christmas special when Andy and Lance go to the British Museum. She shares their habit of touching one of the door bosses for luck, but they don't actually meet her as they're trying to call Terry as she walks past.

Featuring sumptuous SceneryPorn of the English countryside, lovingly drawn characters played by a great EnsembleCast and a gentle folksy soundtrack, the show became something of a SleeperHit, winning [=BAFTAs=] for Best Situation Comedy and Best Comedy Writing. A second series was aired in 2015, with a Christmas special airing that year. A third and final season aired in December 2017, although a one-off, feature-length special has been announced for 2022.

* CelebrityResemblance: ''Everybody'' who encounters Phil and Paul either outright points out the Music/SimonAndGarfunkel resemblance, or says something along the lines of "[[ImpliedTrope do you reckon they look a bit like...]]". When Terry needs a picture of them but doesn't have one, he just uses a picture of Simon and Garfunkel that he got from the Internet. Phil, whose name is not revealed until late in the first series, is even listed as 'Art' in the credits.

* GossipyHens: [[CloseKnitCommunity Danebury]] is apparently ''full'' of these. When Lance receives a complaint about the noise from his downstairs neighbour;

** On a lighter note, fellow-detectorists Russell and Hugh seem to have plenty of adventures of their own - or at least, they're in the local paper a lot. In series 2, they're the ones tasked with finding the mayor's chain of office, and they get to excavate the WWII plane wreck.

* InsistentTerminology: The devices are metal detectors, the people who use them are detectorists... and they ''will'' correct you if you get that wrong. Andy exercises a supreme effort of will not to do this when he's asked in a job interview what he thinks of "metal detectors", until it occurs to him to [[TakeAThirdOption rephrase the question]]; "well I'd say that metal detectors... people who ''use'' metal detectors..."

* NeverFoundTheBody: Terry points out that Larry Bishop's wife vanished without trace and no body was ever found - naturally arousing suspicions when he warns the detectorists to ''never'' try detecting in the lower paddock. [[spoiler:Turns out, she's living in Braintree; Larry doesn't want them in the lower paddock because there's an unexploded WWII bomb there]].

** Everyone refers to Phil and Paul as Simon and Garfunkel.

* [[NosyNeighbor Nosy Neighbour]]: Lance appears to have several of these, as evidenced when Kate comments that the lights of several neighbouring houses went on when she dropped her keys, as evidenced above, said neighbours are also GossipyHens.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Becky's mum is this in a ProtagonistCentredMorality way, but while obnoxious, she [[ParentsAsPeople isn't generally that wide of the mark]]. She rudely disregards Andy's meticulous but slightly over-the-top feeding schedule when she babysits, and she clearly doesn't think he's good enough for Becky -- but only for the same reasons Becky criticises him herself, such as being shiftless and unambitious. Eventually she gives Andy a touching speech reassuring him that her daughter's threats to run away are unfounded because she loves him, and telling him he's a good father, which is something Becky never had herself.
* OddCouple: Lance and his daughter Kate when the latter moves into his flat in series three -- he likes to keep things neat and tidy, while she leaves things lying around and doesn't clear up after herself (in addition to disapproving of the decor, notably the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_Girl 'Tennis Girl' poster]] which she thinks is degrading to women). Eventually resolved when [[spoiler: Toni moves in with Lance and lets Kate live on her house-boat]].

** The last shot of one season has the guys walking off the field as the camera lifts up to reveal [[spoiler:the outline of a buried Anglo-Saxon ship beneath their feet]].

** Local detectorists usually find nothing but ring pull tabs, to the point that the club creates an exhibit of "ring pulls throughout the ages."

* SitcomArchNemesis: Danebury Metal Detecting Club vs The Dirt Sharks (formerly The Antiquisearchers).

* TeacherStudentRomance:
** Averted, but played with.

** Also played with when Andy is questioned by a PCSO whilst waiting outside his girlfriend's school (she’s one of the teachers).

%%* ThoseTwoGuys: Russell and 'young' Hugh.

* WhammyBid: Becky bids way more money than she and Andy can afford attempting to buy a house, terrifying Andy. She hasn’t told him that her mother has agreed to lend them the money, partly because [[{{Troll}} she likes winding him up]] and partly to get back at him for not telling her that he’d quit his job.

* TheAllegedHouse: The final series features an inversion on the usual mechanic. Andy and Becky are looking at houses to see what they can afford. They're shown around a sterile but perfectly serviceable modern build by a completely inept estate agent; Becky is mildly horrified when he boasts the kitchen is made from reconstituted Ugandan hospitals and Andy is told he will not be allowed access to the shed. Instead, they try and buy a run-down wreck of a cottage that Andy can fix up.

** Becky makes a joke in the first series that Lance and Andy are forever looking down and never see anything above them; there's then a GilliganCut where they are completely oblivious to a fighter aircraft fly-by. [[spoiler: Becomes a BrickJoke in the third series when it transpires that a tree under which they frequently have lunch is stuffed with the remains of a hoard that have been picked up and put in the magpies' nest]].

* CelebrityResemblance: ''Everybody'' who encounters Phil and Paul either outright points out the Music/SimonAndGarfunkel resemblance, or says something along the lines of "[[ImpliedTrope do you reckon they look a bit like...]]". Phil, whose name is not revealed until late in the first series, is even listed as 'Art' in the credits.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: So far, the regular recurring characters include Andy, Lance, Sophie, Sheila, Terry, Russell, Hugh, Varde, Louise, Paul, [[spoiler: Phil]], Becky and Kate.

Featuring sumptuous SceneryPorn of the English countryside, lovingly drawn characters played by a great EnsembleCast and a gentle folksy soundtrack, the show became something of a SleeperHit. A second series was aired in 2015, with a Christmas special airing that year. A third and final season aired in December 2017. The show won a BAFTA award for best situation comedy in 2015 and Crook himself won the BAFTA for best comedy writing.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: 'Simon and Garfunkel', alias Paul and [[spoiler: Phil]].
* ThoseTwoGuys: Russell and 'young' Hugh.

--> '''Kate''': I dropped my keys! That's what it was, I dropped my keys and I swear to god, I saw five lights come on up the road. People coming to their windows!
--> ''*Later that day at a DMDC meeting*''

--> '''Sheila''': Who told us it was Kate that dropped her keys? Was it Miriam in the pet shop?

* ImagineTheAudienceNaked: Inverted. When Russell and Hugh return the mayor's chain of office, Russell's advice to a nervous Hugh is to imagine him fully clothed. The mayor then comes out of his house in his underpants.

* [[NosyNeighbor Nosy Neighbour]]: Lance appears to have several of these, as evidenced when Kate comments that the lights of several neighbouring houses went on when she dropped her keys while trying to open the door. The following day, one of the neighbours remarks to Lance that Kate dropped her keys the previous evening.

* OddCouple: Lance and his daughter Kate when the latter moves into his flat in series three - he likes to keep things neat and tidy, while she leaves things lying around and doesn't clear up after herself (in addition to disapproving of the decor, notably the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_Girl 'Tennis Girl' poster]] which she thinks is degrading to women). Eventually resolved when [[spoiler: Toni moves in with Lance and lets Kate live on her house-boat]].

* HypnoFool: DiscussedTrope. Toni persuades Lance to try hypnotherapy to get over his seasickness, but Lance can't relax because he is so worried about being a Hypno Fool, and doesn't really get anything out of it.