Apple TV’s strongest new arrival this year may not be an original at all. “Small Prophets,” the six-episode comedy from “Detectorists” creator Mackenzie Crook, landed on the service on October 7th after a celebrated run on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, and early American reviews are treating it as the streamer’s standout of 2026. The Hollywood Reporter says the series “may be the finest show to hit Apple this year,” with the caveat that the ranking depends on how one feels about “Widow’s Bay.” The Verge called it “extremely strong in basically every regard,” a low-key mix of sweet and silly that has no real equivalent elsewhere. Elsewhere it has been described as a “jewel-like, unhurried masterpiece” that is funny, profound, and capable of breaking and mending the heart in the same stretch. It holds a rare perfect critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and earlier won Best Series in the International Panorama at Series Mania. The premise is small on the surface and strange underneath. Pearce Quigley plays Michael Sleep, a Manchester-area hardware-store worker whose life has stayed on hold since his partner, Clea, disappeared seven years ago. He visits his father, Brian (Sir Michael Palin), spars with a nosy neighbor and a difficult boss, and keeps a house still full of Clea’s boxes. Then an old alchemical recipe enters the picture: tiny prophetic homunculi, grown in jars, that may be able to tell him what happened to her. 
Lauren Patel plays Kacey, the co-worker who becomes an unlikely ally. Crook writes, directs, and co-stars as Gordon, Michael’s boss. Sophie Willan, Jon Pointing, and Paul Kaye round out the ensemble. What reviewers keep returning to is the tone. Crook’s show is droll rather than broad, whimsical without tipping into twee, and grounded in ordinary grief even as the alchemy grows stranger. Quigley’s performance is being singled out as one of the year’s best: sarcastic and shut-in on the surface, funny and oddly lovable once the show lets him in. Palin’s turn as the father has drawn similar praise. Episodes run about half an hour, which suits the unhurried pace. The pickup itself is unusual for Apple. Rather than commissioning the series, the streamer acquired worldwide rights after the BBC run, the first time it has bought an existing English-language show this way. In Britain it was the year’s biggest new scripted launch for the broadcaster, drawing as many as 9.2 million viewers, and the BBC has already ordered a second series, due in 2027 and moving to BBC One. Outside the U.K., the first two episodes are streaming now, with the rest arriving weekly through November 4. British Apple TV subscribers will have to wait until 2027. MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $14.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free. 
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