Starring Pearce Quigley, Michael Palin, Paul Kaye, Lauren Patel, Mackenzie Crook

Written and Directed by Mackenzie Crook

BBC – streaming now on iPlayer

Seven years after the disappearance of his girlfriend Clea, Michael discovers his elderly father’s formula for creating ‘homunculi’, miniature humanoid spirits capable of divining truths and predicting the future.

There’s actually very little to say about Mackenzie Crook’s new genre comedy, Small Prophets, because, on the basis of the first three episodes, it’s as near to perfect as any comedy drama has a right to be, and its many delights are best encountered unspoilt.

If you love the minutely observed eccentricities of a Manchester cul-de-sac; the jobsworth absurdities of a soulless DIY superstore; the juxtaposition of suburban banality with ancient and occasionally unsettling alchemy; and Michael Palin simply being Michael Palin then there is quite simply nothing to dislike.

Crook’s comedic style is often described as ‘gentle’ and perhaps even ‘whimsical’, especially in reference to the similarly wonderful Detectorists, but while those adjectives still apply to Small Prophets, here the emotional heart of the piece – Pearce Quigley’s softly spoken Michael, battling seven years of loneliness – cuts far deeper, and by contrast the show’s comedic turns become laugh out loud moments of northern manners and deliciously playful sight-gags… by the bucket load (literally).

Mackenzie Crook deserves a knighthood – not just for the continued excellence of his TV work but for Services to Englishness, which he does with a love for what lies at the heart of the country’s sensibility, but without a hint of objectionable nationalism.

Verdict: At the halfway point I’ve made a choice not to binge it. It’s a show to enjoy in small delicious sips. Small Prophets is a rare and magical delight. 10/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com