Small Prophets, Huge Promise

Here’s the trailer for Apple TV’s Small Prophets, the acclaimed six-episode comedy from BAFTA-winning creator, writer and director Mackenzie Crook (Detectorists) that premieres on October 4.

Since Apple acquired the BBC series, a second season has been commissioned.

It’s billed as the comic tale of the eccentric Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) who, since his darling Clea disappeared seven years ago, has lived a very ordinary life:

He works in a DIY store, visits his dad Brian (Michael Palin) and hopes for Clea to return. One day Brian shares an old recipe involving rainwater, horse manure and more than a little alchemy.

With recipe in hand, Michael sets out (albeit with some skepticism) to create homunculi – magical spirits that can predict the future – in the hope they have the answer to his burning question, “Will I ever see Clea again?”

Michael gets help from his young coworker Kacey (Lauren Patel), an unlikely friendship that blossoms partly (but not wholly) through their mutual dislike of store manager Gordon (Mackenzie Crook).

Their friendship adds to the frustration and intrigue of his nosy neighbours (Sophie Willan, Jon Pointing) who are obsessed with trying to find out what the hell is going on in the garden shed.

Hailed as a “jewel-like, unhurried masterpiece that is funny, profound and manages to break and mend your heart in equal measures,” the “truly fantastic” first season of the series that is “full of gorgeous surprises” holds a rare, perfect 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and won the Best Series Award, International Panorama at Series Mania in March 2026.

Celebrated as “completely lovely” and “compulsory viewing,” Small Prophets is “richly steeped in Crook’s glorious brand of gentleness, his ability to imbue the ordinary with extraordinariness,” and is an “impossible marvel of TV making.”

Filmed in Manchester, the series incorporates visually stunning animation elements throughout a story of friendships and hope, the magical and the mundane, and where secrets and lies lurk in a suburban cul-de-sac.