Small Prophets

Small Prophets is an Apple TV+ comedy created, written, and directed by Mackenzie Crook, the BAFTA-winning actor-turned-filmmaker whose beloved Detectorists made him a master of gentle, melancholy British comedy. The six-episode first season premiered in October 2026 with a weekly rollout, blending Crook's trademark deadpan warmth with a streak of fantasy and flashes of animation. Filmed in and around Manchester, it channels the small-scale magic of ordinary English life.

Pearce Quigley stars as Michael Sleep, a quietly heartbroken man who works at a DIY store and still aches, seven years on, over the unexplained disappearance of his partner Clea. When his father (Sir Michael Palin) shares a bizarre old recipe — rainwater, horse manure, and a dash of alchemy — Michael sets out to conjure homunculi, tiny magical spirits said to be able to see the future, hoping they can tell him whether he will ever see Clea again. His young coworker Kacey (Lauren Patel) becomes his unlikely accomplice, united partly by their shared contempt for the store manager Gordon (Crook himself), while nosy neighbors grow obsessed with the goings-on in his garden shed.

The series arrived garlanded with acclaim, holding a perfect critics' score and winning the top International Panorama prize at the Series Mania festival earlier in the year. Crook again mines the comedy and quiet sorrow of unremarkable lives, finding the uncanny in a suburban shed. Small Prophets is streaming on Apple TV+.