Did anyone watch this tonight? I’m not sure what to make of it. Think I will need to let it sink in. In the five years since it has last been on the telly it’s grown into a bit of a touchstone, so (for me anyway) there were crushingly high expectations for this reunion episode that were never really going to be fulfilled. It will need some time to sink in, and perhaps a couple of rewatches.
I couldn’t help feeling it came very very near to jumping the proverbial shark. But I can’t deny I had a big smile on my face by the end of it.
When will I ever learn to re-read my posts properly before hitting the button? I’ll need to let that sink in.
That “Sink In” Feeling…
Sorry about that. Completely irrelevant. Drink had been taken.
Might be irrelevant but you’ve reminded me of it . I’ll take a look at the full film again.
Always a great film to be reminded of!
Have read many recommendations here for this show, but having tried the first episode (ever), it didn’t do much for me. Does it improve it is it just me?
Sorry, but to judge by the universal love for this show I think it’s just you.
It does take time to get into it. I wasn’t wholly convinced by the first series then pure gold after that
Having rewatched it all yet again, I quite agree. The first few episodes were not as good as I thought they were, but from then on it’s terrific. And the series finale is one of the best final episodes I’ve ever seen – it’s simply magical from start to finish.
I haven’t watched this new episode yet, but I’ll be happy just to see the old gang together again.
@dai not just you – I felt the same. Gone fishing is much better.
Well as it apparently does get better I will try another episode or two
I tried GF and couldn’t get with it at all. Plus the two presenters are irritating which doesn’t help. It’s the two of them doing their shtick in the country, so you have to like the shtick. Mind you my brother loved it, amongst many, so horses/courses.
I’m with you. GF is a pretty depressing series of ruminations on mortality. Whitehouse especially comes across as very hard work to be with.
Dai – I think it has its own groove and sense of time and you definitely get more from it as it goes along. It’s not a gag fest at all. I’d heartily recommend staying with it.
I went on to episode 2. It was ok, basically nothing happened and I don’t find either of the main characters particularly likeable (yet). Some good lines though and am intrigued enough to keep watching
I quite liked the first series of Gone Fishing but haven’t kept up
So I have finished the first series. It’s reasonable. I probably like it enough to keep going, at least for one more series. Am maybe a bit tired of “quirky” characters in British sitcoms. Just find them annoying. The other thing I really dislike is the theme/incidental music. There are some enjoyable moments though, but ….. am I alone in finding MacKenzie Crook to be punching way above his weight with Rachael Stirling? And being tempted to possibly stray? Come on!
Beautiful women often fall for ugly-looking men. I give you @moose-the-mooche
Write a show for yourself where you’re married to Rachael Stirling. We’d all do it if we had the chance.
Mind you as Lodey rightly infers, the Crookster is a Greek god of a man compared to me. (And he has those very veiny arms. Some women like that – seriously)
The Guardian review was pretty accurate, I think, in that it didn’t quite hit the heights of the originals. We made three people watch it who had never seen the originals, giving it the big build up – they enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite the Christmas hit with them that I had hoped for.
I bought the box set a couple of months ago and we binged the three series plus the Christmas special recently. I think the first two series are peerless and are a must watch – yes, it takes time to build, but it is just beautiful. The third series is very nearly as good, although there is a sense that the idea might be being a little stretched, but that is being very nit picky.
It was very acted, or felt so, the skill in the earlier series that it seemed otherwise. Anyone think the amount of orange slap on Jones and Crook a bit lavish?
That was weird, wasn’t it? I feel as if it must have been a technical choice by the lighting technician or something. ‘No, it’s fine, I know you look a bit orange just now, but once we do the colour correction in the final edit, trust me it will all look much better and the colours will really pop’.
A concession to Trump fans?
Had time to ponder it now and rewatched the last 15 minutes again. I’ve decided I love it! But please end it there now. I couldn’t be doing with years more of Christmas specials with diminishing returns and more guest star appearances.
As guest star appearances go, that was pretty low key.
I watched with trepidation, as Christmas specials frequently disappoint. But, as Arthur says above, I ended with a smile on my face. It could have done with a better actor for the son and the initial premise was, I think, a bit suspect: Lance would never have concealed his find in the first place. But overall it was great. The biggest laugh for me was when Simon and Garfunkel’s ex-minder sampled Sheila’s lemonade, a follow-on from a great gag that appeared in the first season. No belly laughs, but it’s not that kind of comedy. I will watch this ‘special’ again to catch some of the nuances I inevitably missed on first viewing. Good to hear the theme tune again, too.
The son was apparently the same actor as before!
There you go. That’s one of the things I missed first time round. Thanks.
He looked Computer Generated (it says here)
I’ve just watched it, and it wasn’t great. Lance behaving completely out of character (and caked in orange), and the very idea that the club would dismiss a find of obvious antiquity because it wasn’t metal. For much of the special it seemed like a a tribute which had been written by people familiar with the original but unable to quite capture it. I can’t complain about a programme which has given me so much pleasure over the last few years, but this was a low point in its history.
I loved it, you curmudgeons. The ending was brilliant. And, unlike virtually everything else on tv, there was an actual link to Christianity.
I think that’s it though.
@Lando-Cakes
You mean aside from my exclaiming “Jesus fucking Christ! Not another overlong Christmas Special!”
As Robbie Williams once said “Happy Birthday, Jesus Christ.” Which, funnily enough, is pretty much what I said to myself on my 60th.
As a Christmas card announced a few years ago “Many happy returns Jesus, have a sprout!”
Loved every minute of it, apart from the fake tans. And the ending was brilliant.
We thought both Detectorists and Gone Fishing Specials were perfectly fine festive fare but neither really scaled their former heights. No more specials for either, please!
My favourite bit in every Gone Fishing episode is when Mortimer has a just got a fish on the end of his hook, and Whitehouse shouts “DON’T WIND! DON’T WIND!” at him.
Haven’t got around to watching GF yet, but caught up with Detectorists yesterday evening and came away from it smiling. You can pick at a few details for criticisms but overall it had the same subtle comedy and affection for (most of) the characters and place of the originals.
One of the best bits of Christmas telly was one from the BBC’s vaults, ‘Schalken the Painter’. Slow paced but highly creepy ghost story that played some intriguing games with 17th century Dutch painting.
Life, art etc?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-63989057
Watched it last with a bit of trepidation following Arthur’s opening post. Loved it – thought it kept the standard up and yes the premise was ridiculous but also , as ever, it was somehow both charming and life affirming.
It was ok. Looked lovely as usual. Some moving moments, particularly from Rachel Stirling. A few laughs but not many. Ach, they should’ve left it at the last episode, a perfect ending now slightly tainted in the same way Only Fools And Horses “Time On Their Hands’ Xmas episode should’ve been the finale to the series. IMO
SPOILERS
So, they didn’t get any reward from the gold because they didn’t get permission. What a damp squib.
I didn’t like Lance breaking protocol; it seemed out of character and Simon & Garfunkal being arseholes again. Also the chances of Lance and Andy striking lucky with a massively significant find for the THIRD time seemed a bit implausible.
I liked the fact that Lance broke protocol-a whiff of ‘gold fever’ that can turn loyal friends & comrades against each other- & I enjoyed the gentle examination of stupid male pride, I couldn’t help thinking of an echo of ‘The Banshees Of Inisherrin’ – obviously far less dramatic & toxic, but probably more plausible for all that.
Not perfect granted, but for me another enjoyable outing with friends who can never entirely shed their awkwardness, even with each other.
It was essentially The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with a TR7.
‘We don’t need no steeenkin’ detectors!!’
I wonder if many years hence this ep of the Detectorists will also inspire a rather overrated indie rock record?
It was very good but it should have been a full series. And it wasn’t sad enough.
Just watched it & loved it.
And of course ‘She’ was in it, if one was paying attention.
Judith Chalmers?
Got it in one! (Spoiler alert: she’s driving the skip lorry I believe).
OK so now I have to watch again…update… Can’t see the skip lorry driver?
Only teasing…
Yeah, it was Lorraine Kelly not Judith Chalmers.
A? On the steps?
Exactly @Twang – I had seen a social media post so was looking out for her, and it was signalled by the conversation on the train. But it was a bit ‘blink and you’ll miss it’…!
I liked how they did that actually. I was a bit worried it would be too over the top (and I thought the previous cameo by Linda Lusardi in series 3 was pushing it) but it was nicely understated and good gag.
Just watched it, and basically I think I’m in agreement with Zanti. I have mixed feelings because expectations were bound to be astronomical: anything less than perfection would have been a slight disappointment, and it wasn’t perfect. Some of it was great (‘Sheila, you’re breaking my heart’, the lemonade gag), some wasn’t – particularly Simon & Garfunkel being arseholes again. The fake tans were just weird. At least Toni was still around, at first it seemed she wouldn’t be. But it wasn’t as good an ending as series 3 was.
I can’t deny it taints the perfection of the series 3 ending. But then, five years ago I was saying the same thing about series 3 tainting the ending of season 2, so what do I know!
I’ve decided overall I liked it and I’m glad it exists. I’ve watched it a couple of times now. But I hope they stop there for good now, I’m happy with that. And it will just keep diluting it and giving diminishing returns if they keep coming back to it.
It’s the Only Fools And Horses Rule for british sitcoms. They are best confined to two or three series at best, with Only Fools And Horses being the only exception.
It was a triumphant joy, right down to the last 20 seconds or so when you knew the credits were next. Fabulous TV. It’s just the sort of thing I pay my licence fee for.