Mackenzie Crook’s comedy series Small Prophets has been given the green light for a second season by the BBC. The show, which first aired on BBC Two, will now move to BBC One for its next run. Crook, who wrote, directed, and stars in the series, will return alongside co-stars Sir Michael Palin, Pearce Quigley, Lauren Patel, Sophie Willan, and Jon Pointing. Filmed in and around Manchester, the fantasy comedy has been hailed as the BBC’s most successful new comedy of the year. The first season of Small Prophets averaged 6.3 million viewers over 28 days, with 82 percent of that viewership—approximately 5.2 million—coming from the BBC’s iPlayer streaming service. The series has received widespread praise, with top UK newspapers like The Guardian and The Times awarding it five stars. The Independent’s Nick Hilton called it a “superb” follow-up to Crook’s earlier series Detectorists, describing it as “funny, strange, and surprisingly accessible.” The storyline centers on Michael Sleep (played by Pearce Quigley), a solitary employee at a DIY shop who is waiting for the return of his missing partner, Clea. After his father, Brian (Sir Michael Palin), gives him an old recipe for making homunculi—tiny, magical beings that can predict the future—Sleep teams up with his co-worker Kacey (Lauren Patel) to create these spirits. As they work together, a quiet bond forms between Sleep and Kacey, mainly due to their shared annoyance with their boss, Gordon (played by Crook). Meanwhile, their neighbors Bev (Sophie Willan) and Clive (Jon Pointing) are determined to uncover the secrets happening in Sleep’s garden shed. Mackenzie Crook expressed his enthusiasm about returning for the second series, saying he is “thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the second half of this strange story” and is “as intrigued as anyone else to find out what happens to Michael Sleep in his mystical quest.” Emma Lawson, the BBC’s interim director of comedy, said the broadcaster is “beyond delighted” to bring Small Prophets back for a second series, praising Crook for creating a world “packed with wonder, magic, and unforgettable characters” that feels “completely unlike anything else on television.”