EXCLUSIVE: Here’s one for your weekend. Apple TV has acquired worldwide rights to Mackenzie Crook‘s Small Prophets.
Following a deal with Sphere Abacus, the global streamer will launch the series on October 7, excluding UK, where it will be made available next year. The show debuted on the BBC iPlayer and BBC television earlier this year to acclaim and the best 28-day launch ratings for a comedy on BBC Two since 2022.
Crook (The Detectorists) wrote, created and directed the show, also appearing in a small role opposite lead Pearce Quigley (The Detectorists), Lauren Patel (Alma’s Not Normal), Michael Palin (Monty Python), Jon Pointing (Big Boys), Paul Kay (Game of Thrones).
Small Prophets follows Quigley as the eccentric Michael Sleep (Quigley), an ordinary man who, since his darling Clea disappeared seven years ago, has worked in a DIY store, while visiting his elderly dad Brian (Palin) and hoping for Clea to return. One day, Brian shares an old recipe for a potion so a skeptical Michael can create homunculi – magical spirits that can predict the future – to learn if he will see Clea again.
Michael gets help from his young DIY store co-worker Kacey (Patel) and their unlikely friendship blossoms through a dislike of store manager Gordon (Crook), while his nosy neighbors (Willan, Pointing) obssess about what Michael is doing in the garden shed.
The show, set in and around suburban Manchester and is seeped in Crook’s trademark gentleness, is one of the few on Rotten Tomatoes to have a 100% rating and was the winner of the International Panorama at Series Mania earlier this year. It includes animated elements to show the more magical elements of the story.
Crook’s Treasure Trove made the show alongside Manchester-based Blue House Productions. Crook and Lisa Thomas are exec producers for Treasure Trove Productions, with Christine Gernon and Emma Strain EPing for Blue House Productions.
Tonally, Small Prophets will sit comfortably alongside the likes of Ted Lasso at Apple TV, sharing a similar gentle British sensibility.
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