The BBC has ordered a second season of “Small Prophets,” Mackenzie Crook’s offbeat comedy about a Manchester man who breeds tiny magical spirits in his garden shed. The renewal comes after the show pulled in as many as 9.2 million viewers during its first run and Apple TV secured worldwide streaming rights last month.
Season two will shift the series from BBC One to BBC Two, where it will premiere in 2027. Crook, who created, wrote and directed the show, has said he wants the follow-up run to close out the story entirely, expanding from six episodes to eight and wrapping the narrative he began building a decade ago. Speaking at the Series Mania festival earlier this year, Crook described spending most of that decade simply figuring out what the show was. He said he now understands the shape of the story well enough to finish it, and that he is eager to discover how it ends himself.
Pearce Quigley stars as Michael Sleep, a Manchester man still reeling from the disappearance of his partner, Clea, seven years earlier. Working at a DIY store, Michael follows an alchemical recipe handed down by his father, Brian, played by Michael Palin, to grow homunculi — small prophesying beings — in his shed. The cast also includes Crook as Michael’s boss, Gordon, Lauren Patel as his friend Kacey, and Sophie Willan and Jon Pointing as nosy neighbors Bev and Clive.
Crook’s idea for the series traces back to a footnote he read about the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus. The show was filmed around Urmston and Stockport, and blends live action with animated sequences depicting the homunculi.
BBC interim director of comedy Emma Lawson said Crook built a world filled with wonder and unforgettable characters unlike anything else on television. Critics have responded warmly to the premise, with reviewers praising Quigley’s performance and Crook’s ability to find magic in ordinary domestic settings. Crook joked that the homunculi themselves had already foretold the renewal, since, by the show’s own rules, they cannot lie.
