This was an odd one. I watched it and liked it, but I never knew what it was trying to be. Saunders' character was very realistic (there are thousands of them in Devon) but it's unrealistic in assuming she would be a member of the WI or even be involved with the 'locals' so it's always been a bit surreal. I do like the way her character pronounces 'IKEA' though. French's character is just odd.

I hadn't realised they'd dropped Joanna Lumley from it; she disappeared without me noticing! Makes sense though as she seemed to have been in it just because she had been in AbFab. I feel another avatar coming on.

Quote: martin orbell @ May 7 2009, 4:19 PM BST

don't bother coming back for another series, assuming you manage to get more funding for series 4.

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If they want it, they'll get it unquestioningly. A huge American fanbase ensures huge returns for Auntie's investment in the show.

As for the show, no doubt this can be found by going back through previous pages, but I rated series 1 at-broadcast on a similar level to the miners' love of Maggie. However, series 2 I found far more tolerable, and it quite grew on me. I'll probably re-watch the first at some point - thinking back to it, I'm not sure I got further than a couple of episodes into it anyway.

Just piggy-backing onto this more than ten years later...

I've just finished bingeing all 3 series of this and I think it holds up extremely well and is the perfect thing to watch at the moment. Maybe it came at the wrong time - when there was already an abundance of 'cosy' comedy (something we don't seem to have these days) and would have been better appreciated around now. I think Sue Johnston is perfectly cast and I really enjoy that David Mitchell is essentially if-Mark-from-Peep-Show-had-become-a-doctor.

Another thought I had is that Detectorists is sort of a Jam & Jerusalem 2.0. I won't go into the politics of one being female-led and one being male-led because it's not really relevant - but the two are extremely similar in tone. The Ladies Guild is like the DMDC (?) and they both have plenty of 'eccentric' small village characters (the farmer with invisible dogs could have been lifted straight from J&J). They're both based around people's hobbies and small-town politics, as well as the appreciation for nature being an abundant theme - there's even the external threat of development in both.

I think the writing in Detectorists is slightly tighter and the plot lines a bit slicker, but I'd be very surprised if Mckenzie Crook didn't take at least some inspiration from Jennifer Saunders. Also, Kate Rusby and Johnny Flynn are equally capable of making me cry on cue... That said, literally anything sets me off these days - particularly people being nice to each other or sitting knee-to-knee in a pub. Soz.

Anyone else spot that link?

Just read, in his memoir, that David Mitchell was in this.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 28th April 2021, 11:40 AM

Just read, in his memoir, that David Mitchell was in this.

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Yes. She mentioned that above.

Quote: Chappers @ 28th April 2021, 5:57 PM

Yes. She mentioned that above.

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