Today, Apple TV announced that it has landed season one of Small Prophets, the acclaimed six-episode comedy from BAFTA Award-winning creator, writer and director Mackenzie Crook (Detectorists) that premiered on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two in the U.K. earlier this year. The series will premiere on Apple TV on October 7, 2026 excluding the U.K., where it will be available to Apple TV subscribers in 2027.
The series features a host of beloved comedy stars including Mackenzie Crook, Pearce Quigley (Detectorists), Lauren Patel (Waterloo Road), BAFTA Award winner Sir Michael Palin (Monty Python), BAFTA Award winner Sophie Willan (Alma’s Not Normal), BAFTA Award nominee Jon Pointing (Big Boys) and SAG Award nominee Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones).
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.”
Small Prophets is a comic tale of the eccentric Michael Sleep (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 (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 (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 neighbors (Willan, Pointing) who are obsessed with trying to find out what the hell is going on in the garden shed.
Small Prophets was filmed and set in and around 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.
The series is produced by Treasure Trove and Blue House Productions, and is created, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook. Executive producers are Mackenzie Crook and Lisa Thomas for Treasure Trove Productions, and Christine Gernon and Emma Strain for Blue House Productions. Apple TV acquired Small Prophets from international distributor Sphere Abacus.
