I did not see it, but Pipeline has a thoughtful review of Episode 1 of Series Three of the BBC 4 comedy series on artefact hunting ('Review: an Archaeological Take on Detectorists Series Three [BBC 6)', Pipeline 78th Nov 2017). They noted details I suspect the more superficial minds on the metal detecting forums will have missed. One bit was a telling and especially worth highlighting here.
Lance and Andy comment that they are afraid of losing the field where they have permission to metal detect because it is becoming more difficult to get new permissions. It has been a mark of “Detectorists” that Crook does his research and you only have to look at metal detecting forums and Facebook groups to sense the fear expressed by Lance and Andy is a reflection of the current state of metal detecting in Britain. In many areas a combination of fields stripped of finds, farmers who are more savvy about the finances of metal detecting, and companies buying up the rights to whole farms to hold large scale metal detecting rallies, are perceived to be bringing about a tailing off traditional permissions. Especially those for the individuals and small local clubs who were the grass roots which built the hobby.'Fields stripped of finds' is of course a euphemism for archaeological sites totally destroyed by collection-driven exploitation. The ones already damaged but as yet to be quite as destroyed are increasingly being mined for commercial reasons. It is good that landowners are at last becoming aware of the potential scope for being scammed when they just let people take away what they fancy with only a nod to informing what they are doing. Any transfer of ownership and removal of artefacts needs to be documented.
Anyway,
A Box Set of all three series plus the 2016 Christmas Special is scheduled for release in the UK on 18 December 2017.That's my Christmas present sorted out. Better than socks.
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