TV gold

Happy tenth birthday to the wonderful Detectorists, thoroughly deserving of this tribute to its "low-key charm" by the Guardian's David Renshaw.

The key to that charm is the series' gentle humour. Creator and lead actor Mackenzie Crook explains that he "deliberately set out to write something uncynical and removed from the awkward 'cringe comedy' that was prevalent at the time". Renshaw mentions Crook's breakthrough role as Gareth in The Office, but refrains from explicitly noting that shows like The Office were precisely what Crook was reacting against with his own creation.

Detectorists, Renshaw observes, is "not a sitcom chasing belly laughs". It's not relentless or desperate in that way. On the contrary, it's subtle and character driven - primarily by the relationship between Crook's Andy and Toby Jones' Lance, but also by a superb supporting cast. The calibre of the acting is exceptional, and the pub beer garden scene between Lance and Sophie Thompson's Sheila - well, that's phenomenal, by any standards.

Renshaw is right to single out the show's portrayal of male friendship for special mention, and for the way that it seems to foreshadow the marvellous Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, currently back on the Beeb for a seventh series. (Indeed, Crook has said elsewhere that the hobby/obsession that brought Andy and Lance together might well have been fishing rather than metal detecting.)

Crook and Jones appear natural and at ease in each other's company, and it's little surprise to learn that it was a joy to be a part of, Jones declaring: "Those three summers we spent shooting felt like a holiday." More of a revelation was the fact that the series was inspired by a particular episode of Time Team - one that stood out in my memory too.

That there won't be any more episodes is a disappointment in a way, but also reassuring, in that there's no risk of what we already have being tarnished. "[N]obody should be sad", says Crook - and they won't be if they succumb to the temptation to rewatch.