Mackenzie Crook interview

Mackenzie Crook on turning down Johnny Depp eight years after suffering breakdown and deciding to quit.

Which The Office stars won't be in Life On The Road?

Ricky Gervais's film Life On The Road, which is scheduled for release in August 2016, focuses on the music career of deluded office manager David Brent from his maiden TV series The Office (2001 - 2003). But it will not feature the original actors from the series Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook, it has been confirmed.

To the Danebury Metal Detecting Club, Detectorists' gentle comedy, normally words which conjure fierce misery, works splendidly on both that and many other levels. As far as I can recall from this resumption, absolutely nothing happened, but it happened perfectly: and, again, a pairing is at the heart. I've been lucky enough to interview both Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook, and they must be among the least egotistical delights in the business. It shows in their quiet on-screen companionship: and yet already I'm gripped with frissons, and fiercely rooting for them to find that damned trove.

Detectorists, Series 2 Episode 1, BBC Four, review

This comedy about men on the edge is beautifully underplayed by Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones, says Jasper Rees.

Pastoral sitcom Detectorists returns for a second series, with Mackenzie Crook's hangdog Andy struggling to find both employment and his sense of masculinity following the birth of baby Stan when Becky heads back to work. Toby Jones's sad-sack Lance is still finding it hard to accept that ex-wife Maggie is gone, but Andy has a plan to get him on the internet dating scene. Meanwhile, a mysterious German stranger arrives at the Danebury metal detecting club, seeking help to find the wreckage of a war plane.

Mackenzie Crook: what's in Detectorists series 2

Mackenzie Crook spills the beans about the new series - and promises that Simon and Garfunkel will be back.

Mackenzie Crook interview

Why did Mackenzie Crook turn down Pirates of the Caribbean to make a BBC Four comedy?

Where to find Mackenzie Crook's Detectorists in Suffolk

He's back wielding a metal-detector in BBC Four's Bafta-winning sitcom - here's how you can follow in his footsteps.

Detectorists trailer undermines its subtle brilliance

Mackenzie Crook's BBC Four sitcom Detectorists wasn't just the finest British comedy series of 2014, it was one of the finest British programmes.

The first series of this comedy rested as deep below the surface as the long lost treasures hunted by Andy and Lance, also known as Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones. Those who dug it out from the schedules will have found it to be a magical and heart-warming comedy, later awarded with the gold the screen pair seek in the shape of a Bafta award.

Everything is ever so-slightly out of reach for Andy and Lance in this gentle meander, which basks beneath marshmallow cloud blobs above a hushed countryside, their very first sweep across the screen bringing them as agonizingly close to bounty as at the end of the first run.

The dexterity of Crook's writing and the performances knit together with rare ease such disparate threads as naked calendars, breast milk, and a perfect analysis of the most irritating ways to answer a question on University Challenge. A quiet contentment flows through this world and through them into ours, and the humility of the writing is almost bashful of its talent.