Tuesday 7 October 2014

Detectorists (BBC sitcom)

Metal detecting
photo: Portable Antiquities Scheme
I got to see the first episode of BBC's  new sitcom, "Detectorists", and I was not disappointed. I was pleased to see that no tremendously important object was found by the detectorists right away and that it showed the more typical finds that I remember from trying out a friend's metal detector ― such as a tab-pull from a pop-can. I did not even see any later on-line complaints from anti-detecting archaeologists explaining how it is the tab-pull's archaeological context that it is really important, how tab-pulls really belong to the people and not persons, or how the sale of tab-pulls is funding terrorism. Don't worry though, I'm sure that as soon as any of the characters discovers an ancient equivalent of the tab-pull then all these criticisms will start to appear.

For those who cannot see the show, it is (currently) on YouTube.

10 comments:

  1. John:

    Seems like our pal from Warsaw has undergone a Damascene Conversion. He writes:-

    “....[...].. we are entitled to treat such unsubstantiated and unsubstantiable allegations with a dose of scepticism, and even suspect these stories are being totally made-up…[…]… Come on, where is the evidence?”

    One hopes he applies his newly-found credo to that pack of lies masquerading as the Artefact Erosion Counter. Ha ha!

    Regards

    John Howland

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  2. Hi John,

    Must be a slow news day -- whatever he was talking about seems to have been edited out.

    Cheers,

    John

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  3. He is just an envious, wannabe archaeologist who doesn't have a sand box to play in....

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  4. Perhaps we could all chip in and buy him one ;-)

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  5. hi john,paul was commenting on the claim that isis has looted and sold $ billions of antiquities and that they were being sold in western auction houses,he quite rightly says its bullshit ,for once everyones on the same page.i didnt see this show about md but i did read somewhere ,although i cant remember where off hand that some md were offended and thought the program was taking the piss out of them.
    kyri.

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    1. Thanks, Kyri -- sounds like a lot of over-thinking is going on, and of course, If a sitcom did not take the piss out of just about every character it depicted, it would not be a sitcom.

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  6. It is not a documentary it is a sitcom, it is funny as Fcuk the poor sad guy in Warsaw cannot tell the difference between a sitcom and a documentary. One of his comments were why did it not show the chaps getting a written permission from the farmer

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    1. I've seen gags on TV about people who think that soap operas depict real people, too -- perhaps it's not just fiction!

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  7. It was a very, very funny sitcom of two detectorists, the characterisation was very clever of the two 'sad' M/Ders they did feel almost real, the joke about the Google map and I/A settlement still makes me chuckle.

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  8. Hi Thelma, yes, I liked that part too. I'm looking forward to seeing how the show develops and what new characters might appear.

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