Title - Waiting For You: A Detectorists Zine - issue one
Author - Various
Publisher - Temporal Boundary Press
Format - A5 Fanzine - 56 pages
Year - 2021
Original Cost - £6.00
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From Rupert's Raggety, to Paul Wright's Arcadia, to Mackenzie Crook's Detectorists and the new zine that its inspired. There's a pathway there, I think, a through line or even a Ley Line, if you will. Given my lifelong fascination with folklore, folk horror, the concept of Arcadia or Blake's Jerusalem and the British country side as a landscape for story, I was always going to find my way to The Detectorists TV show.
I was slightly behind the curve, joining the audience on a late night repeat run of series 1 just prior to series 2 airing. And it had me at the theme tune. Its a funny, gentle, beautiful and honest show that felt almost transcendental in its viewing experience, as though watching it was akin to opening a window and letting fresh clean air blow out the stale cynicism within. And as an occasional hay fever sufferer, I don't make that comparison lightly.
I eventually journeyed to series 3 and the near perfect conclusion to the show and then, much like any other very enjoyable journey, I wanted to go again and take someone else along with me to share in the experience.
The second time around was with the wife. And the third time was the wife and Thing 2. Surprisingly, being of the YouTube generation of fast edits and short attentions spans, it was a pleasure to find the youngster liked it too. In fact she's ready for a return trip herself and we'll embark on that pretty soon, only holding off until Thing 1 returns from university so the last member of the clan can be in on it as well. I know she is going to like it and the rest of us will get a little bit more out of it from yet another viewing. So, if you are keeping count, this will be my fourth go round but there's a lot going on beneath the surface of the show; histories and secrets and, if found, ancient treasures that enrich the future. I see a little something more with each visit and enjoy the journey more for knowing how it ends. And this time I've got some reference material to guide me.
I like a zine and I like to support small publishers because on the whole they are the ones making the interesting stuff. Waiting for You contains a collection of reviews, interviews and articles on the show that might just make you look a little deeper or even at a slightly askew angle the next time you visit Danebury. Most were fascinating, with David Colohan's Phantom Signals covering the cost of entry alone. I didn't agree with every analysis, and at least one piece seemed to forget the general challenges of making on-location television and the fact that the process will dictate some of the creative choices made and of what does or doesn't appear on the screen. By and large though, I thoroughly recommend the zine and hope we get further issues as there is still lots more to discover and elaborate upon.
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