Rainwater, horse manure and an old family recipe: Small Prophets premieres on Apple TV — Mackenzie Crook's cast includes Michael Palin
Britain's biggest new comedy of the year involves a grieving DIY-store clerk, a garden shed, and his dad's very specific instructions.
Small Prophets premiered on Apple TV on October 7, 2026, with its first two episodes, and the rest of the six-episode season rolls out weekly through November 4. The UK is the exception: the show already aired there on BBC Two and iPlayer in February and March 2026, and British Apple TV subscribers get it in 2027. It's the first time Apple has bought worldwide rights to an established English-language hit.
The show comes from Mackenzie Crook, who created Detectorists, and the premise is exactly as strange as the headline. Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) has lived a very ordinary life since his partner, Clea, disappeared seven years ago. He eats Shreddies, works at a DIY store, and visits his father, Brian (Michael Palin), in his care home. Then Brian hands him an old recipe involving rainwater, horse manure, and alchemy, for growing homunculi: tiny prophesying spirits that might be able to tell Michael whether he'll ever see Clea again.
Crook found the idea in a 19th-century book about the alchemist Paracelsus, which included a recipe for homunculi, and sat on it for years:
"Like all my best ideas, this one has been percolating for nearly a decade."
— Mackenzie Crook
Who's who
- Pearce Quigley as Michael Sleep. Detectorists fans know him as Russell; The Gentlemen fans know him as Gospel John.
- Michael Palin as Brian, Michael's father and the keeper of the recipe.
- Lauren Patel as Kacey, Michael's young coworker and partner in the shed experiment.
- Mackenzie Crook as Gordon, the store manager both of them can't stand. Crook told Drama Quarterly, "I was in quite a bad mood when I was doing those bits."
- Sophie Willan and Jon Pointing as Bev and Clive, the neighbors desperate to know what's going on in that shed.
- Paul Kaye as Roy, Clea's down-on-his-luck brother, who wants to claim the family home.
It's also Crook's first show set somewhere other than the countryside, a Manchester-area cul-de-sac, with animation for the homunculi.
The numbers
In the UK, Small Prophets turned into the BBC's biggest new comedy of the year. Its first episode drew 7.7 million viewers within 28 days, the biggest BBC Two comedy episode in a decade, well ahead of the 4.5 million who watched the 2022 Detectorists Christmas special. The episode has since been viewed 9.2 million times. On September 8, the BBC renewed it for a second series, moving to BBC One in 2027. Crook announced it in character, more or less:
"The prophets have foretold that series two will be happening next year."
— Mackenzie Crook
Reviews on this side of the Atlantic are good, too. The Hollywood Reporter's verdict was "charming, amusing and unexpected," and it called Quigley's lead turn one of the year's best performances.
One thing to know before you start: Crook ended season 1 with "to be continued," so the six episodes don't wrap the story up.
