Small Prophets, Mackenzie Crook's BBC comedy, reviewed as it reaches Apple TV

Left · 2Small Prophets, a comedy written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, who also acts in it, is premiering on Apple TV this week outside the UK; it is a BBC Two acquisition, and UK viewers can watch it on iPlayer. 1 2 Left · 2Pearce Quigley plays Michael Sleep, a Manchester-area man living a routine life. Seven years earlier, his girlfriend Clea disappeared on Christmas Eve, and he has kept the living room as it was that night. 1 2 Left · 2His father Brian, played by Michael Palin, tells him about homunculi, tiny human-like beings from alchemy that can be grown in jars or pots and are said to answer questions. Michael tries it in the hope of learning what happened to Clea. 1 2

Left · 2Lauren Patel plays Kacey, a younger co-worker who becomes his ally. The cast also includes Jon Pointing, Shola Adewusi and Paul Kaye, and Crook plays Michael's boss Gordon. 1 2 Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg calls it possibly the finest show to hit Apple this year and Apple TV's first magical realist triumph. He praises Quigley's performance and Crook's restraint, though he says Kacey's backstory has "perhaps too many" holes. 1 Left · 1The A.V. Club's Kayleigh Donaldson says the show has Crook "at the top of his game". She says he avoids cheap whimsy, and she praises the friendship between Michael and Kacey and the stop-motion animation of the homunculi. 2

Left · 2Both reviews compare it with Crook's earlier comedy Detectorists. Both describe it as quiet rather than laugh-heavy, and both report that a second season has been ordered. The Hollywood Reporter says the first season runs to six half-hour episodes. 1 2