Mackenzie Crook is best known for playing Gareth in Ricky Gervasis' The Office and Ragetti in The Pirates of the Caribbean series. Fantastic though those performances are Crook's creation of and starring in Detectorists is his best work to date. It is an utter treat. 

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The award-winning Detectorists' returns for a third series as we follow in the footsteps of Andy (Mackenzie Crook) and Lance (Toby Jones), two friends sharing a devotion to metal detecting. With their eyes on a particular plot of land, they dream of the one find which would bring history to life and change their lives in the process.

Having returned from Africa, Andy and Becky (Rachael Stirling) have moved in temporarily with her mother (Diana Rigg) with all the challenges that come with the territory. Lance is trying to kick-start his relationship with Toni (Rebecca Callard), but her living on a barge makes him queasy and his daughter staying at the flat leaves it all rather precarious with none of this being helped by the re-appearance of his ex-wife. Meanwhile Lance and Andy's search for gold continues as they face enemies old and new.

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Usually by the third series, a TV show is either hitting its straps or failing fast. But the Detectorists neither rests on its laurels from the previous two series by playing it safe nor does it 'jump the shark' by going in a direction that doesn't fit with the established characters and their world. 

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What pushes Detectorists forward is its unwavering commitment to character development. Andy and Lance continue to develop in interesting fashion, but its the development of the secondary characters that are just as intriguing

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Detectorists Series 3 still has all the magic of the first two series while moving the characters forward into intriguing places. 

★★★★★