Mackenzie Crook’s beloved British series Detectorists, a gentle comedy about a pair of metal detecting friends in a North Essex village, offers an unexpectedly profound depiction of what the local past means in the era of globalization. Detectorists: Feeling for the Past offers a rich analysis of the show’s affectionate portrayal of amateur archaeology, drawing on philosophies of historical feeling to illuminate how everyday people experience strong emotional connections to the physical past around them. The book balances close analysis of Detectorists’ characters, stories, and themes with a multifaceted account of the show’s cultural significance, situating it within folk and ghost story traditions and within ongoing debates on amateurism and expertise. It also analyses how the show contributes thoughtfully to contemporary conversations about masculinity, Brexit and globalization, archaeology and history in an age of rising nationalism.

The deeply televisual nature of the show is kept firmly in view throughout the volume. It elaborates how Detectorists uses visual and sonic techniques to craft its distinctive bucolic atmosphere, and traces the importance of television to the characters’ identities, to the relationships they forge with one another, and to the unique sociability that the series builds with its audience.

Drawing on her background in medievalism, philosophy, screen studies, humour studies, and cultural analysis, Louise D’Arcens blends expert insights with a fan’s appreciation, creating an account designed to appeal to scholars and students across a range of disciplines—as well as the show’s legions of devotees.