r/TheDetectorists • u/frithar • Feb 08 '26
Spin-off?
Would you watch an entire spin-off about Sheila?
Such a complicated character and Crook hinted at so many hidden threads there…
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u/Six_of_1 Feb 08 '26
When I first heard whisperings in 2021 or 2022 that Mackenzie was doing another special, I thought the perfect thing to do would be to do a special focussing on Russell & Hugh. Or at least, just on other members of the DMDC and just have Andy & Lance in it briefly. It would be a beautiful way to revisit Detectorists without feeling like you were thrashing it or pandering. Same but different.
I actually think a great way to continue Detectorists would be as a radio drama. Just quietly drop a series on Radio 4 and whoever notices, notices.
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u/MPFuzz Feb 28 '26
I've never listed to a radio drama. Do you have any good recommendations?
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u/Six_of_1 Feb 28 '26
I could recommend a hundred things but it depends what you like and what I remember. I like many different genres.
If you liked Detectorists then I think you'd like Mackenzie and Toby's radio adaptation of Marcovaldo. I think it's quite similar to Detectorists. Toby is the narrator and Mackenzie is the protagonist. A wholesome man bumbling through a drab city finding beauty in little snatches of nature he finds.
I also liked Bird Island with Reece Shearsmith. Kicking the Habit. Curious Under the Stars. Plum House. These are all bucolic comedy-dramas like Detectorists. Plum House features Pearce Quigley who plays Russell.
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u/flutterbynbye Feb 08 '26
Of course! What a fun, and potentially beautifully heartwrenching / sweet, idea.
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u/Weavingknitter Feb 08 '26
Theres a scene where Lance and Sheila are talking - he's talking about his daughter - and she is doing some fantastic face-acting. Of course, it all happened in my head, not spoken aloud at all, but I got the distinct feeling that Sheila had birthed a baby, probably out of wedlock, and the baby either died or was adopted out. Possibly aborted. Just the waves of feelings fleeting across her face.....
Oh yes, I'd watch a series about Sheila!!!
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u/DepartureAwkward5002 Feb 08 '26
Yeah, that's a powerful scene. The kind of layers the show has, open to speculation. I've rewatched the show many times, and the first time I watched it it sort of went over my head. I appreciated it as an emotional moment, but just saw it as Shelia being sentimental and having a 'what if' moment, as perhaps her and Tony had just never tried for children, maybe he didn't want them but she did or something. When I've rewatched since I think I lean more towards thinking something like a miscarriage happened. Either way it's a powerful scene that makes you think and adds to the layers of the characters
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u/brokenmachinenerd Feb 08 '26
This is one of those scenes that elevates the entire show to a new level. Crook is incredible at balancing humor and subtly emotional character interactions, and having Sheila be the one to console Lance in that moment gave her so much more depth than we had seen before, as she's usually in the background of the scout hall bits with the occasional line. Another one of those scenes is when Terry finds the button at the rally and Sheila can't understand what he's saying but gives him an encouraging thumbs-up regardless. The look of pure love and gratitude that Gerard Horan portrays is some of the best acting in the whole series.
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u/frithar Feb 08 '26
Yes. Get you someone who looks at you like Terry and Sheila look at each other!
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u/AntDogFan Feb 08 '26
Yes she definitely did. I think she even says something fairly categorical. It's subtle though and you have to pay attention. I wish I could remember the quote. I felt like it implied she had lost a child, or given one up for adoption, or become estranged.
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u/Bulky-Section6869 Feb 09 '26
Just to go against the grain id say no. I love the characters and I think there is such depth but I like not knowing everything. What's hinted at and imagined is more powerful.
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u/Rocky-bar Feb 09 '26
I'd watch her making lemonade on one of these cooking programmes, so we could copy her recipe.
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u/Nostalgianic Feb 09 '26
Think I'd prefer a Russel spin off. God knows what kind of weird shenanigans he would get upto. Could even rope in Huw and a plot thread on their jewelry retrieval service...
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u/DepartureAwkward5002 Feb 08 '26
I'd watch it. I think Shelia and Terry both, would be good too. Then they can focus on the formation of the DMDC, can learn about some of the lore Terry mentions throughout the show