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Do you love metal detecting and wants to learn how to become a great detectorist? Are you fascinated by the idea of finding lost treasure? If so, this article is for you! Metal detecting can be a difficult hobby to get into because it requires tons of patience and dedication. Lucky for you, we have compiled a list of our favorite metal detecting shows that will help make your transition from armchair viewer to active participant a little easier! Read on to find out which ones they are and why they’re worth checking out!

The Detectorists” on Netflix is like an indie film that you’ll love if metal detecting sounds more like fun than work to you. The show follows Andy, who has been obsessed with treasure hunting for years but never had any luck until now! His friend Lance joins him on his journey to locate long lost medieval artifacts [1] buried deep under the earth. They manage to get into all sorts of trouble along the way as they deal with accidental discoveries, relationships, and exes alike! But it’s so well done that we can’t wait for season three!

The Detectorist

Digging for Britain

Digging for Britain” [2] on BBC is a documentary that follows metal detectorists and archaeologists as they explore the history of Britain through its objects. The show features many experts who are mapping out our past, one object at a time! It’s educational without being dry or boring, which makes it perfect to watch with your kids on those long car rides home from school!


The Curse of Oak Island” on History Channel is a drama that follows two brothers who are determined to find out what’s buried on Oak Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. The show starts with seemingly endless speculation and intrigue about where this treasure could be – but as the episodes go by it becomes more than just an interesting story!

The curse of Oak Island

treasure quest

Treasure Quest” on the Travel Channel, which follows two metal detector experts as they search for treasure. This show can be very educational for metal detector enthusiasts since you get to learn about all of the different detectors and techniques used by professionals. 

This show focuses mostly around digging in ocean beds or lakes, searching through rivers and creeks that end up running into oceans, looking at rocky outcroppings near shorelines-anything like this where water has run over something metallic. 

There’s a lot more land hunting than underwater hunting too because some people still think you have to go down deep in order to find anything good but actually it turns out that many of the best finds are found near or on top of the surface. 


Gold Rush Alaska” : I usually watch a lot of metal detecting shows but the one I have to recommend is called Gold Rush Alaska. It’s on Discovery Channel and follows this group that goes around in Alaska looking for gold, sometimes getting into scrapes with dangerous people along the way. Each episode follows these treasure hunters as they try their luck at finding gold, which is actually pretty interesting because there’s not always an immediate payoff-sometimes it takes awhile before they find anything too good and you get to see how they deal when that happens. 

They’re also really cool about sharing what exactly gets them excited so if you are thinking about trying out metal detecting yourself then maybe watching this show will give you some inspiration.

gold rush alaska

American Diggers” is also another Discovery Channel show following people as they go around looking for treasure across America-it seems like there are so many great shows nowadays! This one follows these two brothers who seem to share an affinity with metal detecting over everything else even though their father taught them how to do it when they were kids. I think what makes this really special is the fact that while some of us might use metal detectors just recreationally, these guys live off doing this full time so we get to see their entire lives and how they go about it.

We’ve given you the scoop on some of our favorite metal detecting TV shows. From investigations to learning about history, these programs are sure to please any fan of this ancient hobby! Now that we have your attention, be sure to check out our blog post for more information about what makes a good metal detector and which ones work best in different situations.

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