There’s good news and bad news for fans of Mackenzie Crook’s hit comedy Small Prophets. The good news is Crook wants to write a second series, and one with more episodes. The less good news for viewers hoping this is the start of a long-running show is that the writer-director-actor wants the wrap up the story with a second season.
“I want to write a second series. I want it to be eight episodes and then I want to leave it there,” Crook told Deadline at Series Mania, where his six-part comedy is in the International Panorama section. “I haven’t written it yet. I don’t know exactly what happens, but I think that would be great. First half [ends with] to be continued. Second half; the end. And there’s your story.”
Crook wrote, directed and stars in Small Prophets, which has struck a chord with viewers. It tells the story of Michael (Pearce Quigley) who is struggling to come to terms with his partner’s sudden disappearance. His father (Michael Palin) has a journal relaying how to conjure homunculi, magical creatures in jars who can prophesize the future. It’s a high-concept comedy with folklore and magical realism elements, but set in a suburban cul-de-sac.
Last week the BBC said the show is its biggest scripted launch of the year and biggest comedy launch since 2024. The UK pubcaster has yet to officially greenlight Season 2, but Crook tells Deadline he’s hopeful and expecting to hear within days.
Season 1 ends with an on-screen caption reading: ‘To be continued’. The show was ten years in the making, but viewers will not have to wait a decade for Crook to conjure a second series. “The majority of the ten years was figuring out what it was,” he explained. “Now I know what it is, I just have to go and finish off the adventure.”
He added: “I’m quite excited about that because I want to know what happens next and I’m the one who gets to figure that out. I do feel a real responsibility now. Obviously I hoped it would go down well, but I didn’t realize how people would take it to their hearts so immediately. All these reactions have been so positive and heartfelt that I can’t f*** it up.”
Without giving away major plot points, Season 1 ends with a suggestion that the main characters may be heading beyond English suburbia and to another country.
Crook said he is pondering the setting and story for a second run. “I’ve got to figure out what I can change and what people want to be the same. How important is the setting of suburbia to the feel of the whole show and would I be making a completely different show if [Michael] went off to Canada? And he hasn’t got all the answers. If he went to Canada, he still doesn’t know where he’s going and what he’s going to find there.
“The homunculi are a big part of it, and they need to come back. I don’t think he’s a spoiler to say that he will do the experiment again.”
Ahead of Season 2 news, Crook reflected on why viewers have taken to the show. “There’s hopefully a kindness and a heart at the center of it,” he said. “But it’s been a surprise, I suppose, to find that it’s appealing to such a such a wide audience.”
Small Prophets is produced by Crook’s Treasure Trove label and Blue House for the BBC with Sphere Abacus across international sales.