The final scene saw the friends showered with \u201cpennies from heaven\u201d, having at last stumbled upon a sparkling cache, while Andy and his teacher-wife Becky (Rachael Stirling) won their dream home at auction. It seemed like a decisive full stop on the part of Crook, who is also the show\u2019s creator, writer and director.<\/p>\n
So what changed his mind? \u201cI tentatively said that that was it at the end of the third series because we left them in such a lovely place, and I thought I wouldn\u2019t disturb them again unless I thought of a good story\u2026 And one occurred to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That and seeing your friends again? \u201cWell exactly. It\u2019s a bit of a clich\u00e9 that actors at the end of a project say they\u2019re going to miss their friends but yes, I was going to miss Lance!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/Screenshot-2022-12-08-at-10.04.11-337b673.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C410"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Filming for the special in and around Framlingham in east Suffolk concluded in September, but there\u2019s a reunion of sorts going on for RT\u2019s<\/em> interview, with Crook, 51, joining in via Zoom and Jones, 56, live in the room. Their camaraderie, a mix of respect and ribbing, is delightful to watch, and theirs is clearly a prized friendship.<\/p>\n So how did Jones react when he got the call? \u201cI was surprised because I felt we\u2019d ended it, as McKenzie says, beautifully, but I knew that he wouldn\u2019t do it unless there was a good enough idea. He took Rachael out for lunch first \u2013 which I still hold against him \u2013 then he took me for lunch and said Rachael\u2019s up for doing it, thereby putting emotional pressure on me to say yes as well!<\/p>\n \u201cThen he told me the story and I thought it was brilliant. It is an un-turndownable job\u2026 there isn\u2019t any problem with this show because the scripts are so good. That makes it very easy to say yes to.\u201d<\/p>\n The actors, who are both married with two children, are in constant demand professionally. Having produced three chapters of his other countryside project Worzel Gummidge<\/a> in 2021, Crook rejoined Mark Rylance for this year\u2019s stage revival of Jerusalem. And Jones has added to his impressive list of roles in big franchises, from Harry Potter to Jurassic World, <\/em>by starring with\u00a0Harrison Ford in the new Indiana Jones film<\/a>, set for a 2023 release.<\/p>\n How do the Crook and Ford tales of raiding the past compare? \u201cVery different,\u201d says Jones. \u201cThe action sequences in Detectorists are much lower-key and you\u2019re part of a smaller crew. But in terms of good-looking leading men, I think it\u2019s probably about the same, really.\u201d<\/p>\n Crook and Jones had been in a handful of the same films but never shared a scene together until Muppets Most Wanted in 2014, playing museum guards. \u201cThat\u2019s when it occurred to me that we be would good together as these detectorists,\u201d says Crook, who had first jotted down the story idea in 1999.<\/p>\n \u201cMackenzie mentioned that he\u2019d written something with me in mind and then he sent it to me,\u201d adds Jones. \u201cHe sent me the kind of dialogue we do under the tree [the usual location for their characters\u2019 tea break in the programme] and it was just so laugh-out-loud funny. I remember calling my wife and saying, \u2018You\u2019ve got to read this dialogue,\u2019 and she was laughing her head off.\u201d<\/p>\n I ask about Ricky Gervais, in whose sitcom, The Office, Crook played Gareth Keenan from 2001\u20132003, and who also appeared in Muppets Most Wanted, and I\u2019m surprised by the answer. \u201cAh, do you know what, I haven\u2019t seen him since then, which is approaching a decade ago. I\u2019ve no idea, to be honest, if he\u2019s seen Detectorists.\u201d<\/p>\n But back to the Detectorists Christmas Special, where we catch up with Andy, Lance and the Danebury Metal Detecting Club, five years later. The fortune we saw them discover has gone elsewhere, and a wedge is driven between the pair over how to explore a new permission to detect on farmland.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the characters so much and it\u2019s painful to put them in any horrible situations,\u201d says Crook, \u201cbut you have to have some sort of jeopardy for the drama. And they\u2019ve always had this slightly fractious relationship, needling each other. They\u2019re coming at the hobby from slightly different angles.\u201d<\/p>\n The actors are sure they\u2019ve<\/em> never fallen out, although Jones adds, \u201cHe\u2019s normally so incredibly accommodating and he\u2019s always got about 200 per cent more things going on in his head than I have. All I have to think about is doing the scene and he\u2019s got to think about shooting it. I\u2019ll sort of go\u2026 \u2018Don\u2019t you think it would be funny if I did this..?\u2019 but a couple of times I\u2019ve got the sense that maybe I\u2019ve just asked once too often!\u201d<\/p>\n Crook, who metal-detects in his spare time, holds up to the computer screen his favourite find to date, from the third century: \u201cIt\u2019s a piece of Roman gold that I found on a farm where we filmed the third series \u2013 I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a pendant or an earring \u2013 but it\u2019s pretty crumpled. It was declared treasure but no museums were interested, so I got it back. It was valued at \u00a3100, somebody objected and it was revalued at \u00a350. Bargain price, nobody wanted it!\u201d<\/p>\n Hobbies aside, are they like their characters? \u201cAndy is really an exaggerated version, a sadder version, of myself,\u201d says Crook, \u201cso I\u2019m kind of playing myself, in a way.\u201d Jones chips in, \u201cHe\u2019s got a low satisfaction threshold [both laugh]. Probably lower than you!\u201d<\/p>\n And what does Jones admire or dislike about Lance? \u201cI admire his intelligence, his loyalty. Occasionally he strays but nonetheless I think he\u2019s a very good friend. I think they\u2019re both hopeful people.<\/p>\n \u201cLance is pompous but not hugely pompous. He\u2019s not a big head. He\u2019s a bit of a know-all, but that\u2019s a feature of the club: everyone is a bit of a know-all. That\u2019s what the club should be called, the Know-Alls.\u201d<\/p>\n Detectorists is such a fun, relaxing watch that you imagine the same is true of filming. Any gigglers among the cast? \u201cThere\u2019s not a big problem with corpsing on set,\u201d says Crook. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that means that my scripts aren\u2019t funny enough [Jones laughs].<\/p>\n \u201cBut Pearce Quigley [who plays Russell] is hilarious and whenever Toby and Pearce get together, I\u2019ll look over and they\u2019ll both be doubled over, gasping for breath, unable to speak\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s just a naturally very, very funny actor,\u201d explains Jones. \u201cReally everyone\u2019s just laughing in admiration.\u201d<\/p>\n But what about the public response to the show \u2013 did that surprise Crook? \u201cIt did. It\u2019s been a sort of slow reaction, always building, and people are still finding it. It seemed to be a big comfort to people during lockdown, so it started as a cult audience of probably mainly metal detectorists and now it seems to have a big old fanbase.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really interesting is when you go away on holiday,\u201d adds Jones. \u201cI was on the TGV in France and this guy said, \u2018Welcome to our country\u2019 and I said \u2018Thanks very much\u2019 and he went, \u2018Detectorists!\u2019 [mimes a thumbs up]. I assumed it might be shown in Europe but several people came up to me in France and said they absolutely loved the show. I think it\u2019s got a reach internationally.\u201d<\/p> I\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>suggest\u00a0that there\u2019s a lot of kindness in the programme\u2026 \u201c<\/span><\/strong>Yes, thank you and that\u2019s deliberate,\u201d replies Crook, \u201cbecause I think it\u2019s a superpower, almost. Kindness is underrated. If people were kinder in general, the world would be a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n In the new episode we learn that Andy and Becky (Rachael Stirling) have lost Becky\u2019s mum, Veronica. She was played in the show by Stirling\u2019s mother Diana Rigg, who died in 2020, and one moving scene where Becky takes stock feels completely real.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was important to me and it was important to Rachael to at least acknowledge it. She\u2019s acting, obviously, but I could tell she was very upset at the same time, so I knew I\u2019d got it on that first take and I didn\u2019t make her do it again\u2026 They\u2019ve had a tough year, Andy and Becky, for that and other reasons, and when we join them they\u2019re on their way out of that tough period.\u201d<\/p>\n The show\u2019s rich blend of personal dramas and intrigues from antiquity have a wide appeal among the great and the good. Digging for Britain host Alice Roberts makes a brief cameo in the Christmas Detectorists \u2013 but are there other famous fans? \u201cI got a message from Anthony Hopkins, who loves our show,\u201d says Jones\u2026 \u201cStewart Lee wrote a really lovely email,\u201d adds Crook.<\/p>\n What about Harrison Ford? \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised,\u201d says Jones, \u201che just can\u2019t stop with the archaeology.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting to learn that the show wasn\u2019t always intended as a relaxed, sun-kissed amble through the countryside. \u201cI don\u2019t think I set out for it to be this sort of calm tonic that it\u2019s turned out to be,\u201d Crook elaborates. \u201cI found some very early notes I\u2019d written, way before I even started writing scripts \u2013 metal detecting in the real world happens in the autumn and the winter months when there are no crops in the fields, so it\u2019s a bleaker, colder hobby \u2013 and in these original pages of dialogue it was a kind of a bleak drama I suppose.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we came to film the pilot it was on the hottest day of the year, and we realised we would be missing a trick if we didn\u2019t do it in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n It turned out to be a masterstroke.\u00a0The show features stunning photography of fields and trees and insects \u2013 but then, the world around us is clearly important to Crook:\u00a0\u201cOne of my main passions is the natural world and environmental issues, and if it makes people appreciate the countryside then that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the same with Worzel Gummidge. In that I could push the environmental message a bit further because that was kind of what it was about. But yeah, if I can just show some pleasant shots of the English countryside, that\u2019s a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/Running-bfbc64f.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C412"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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