Small Prophets is a BBC series written and directed by MacKenzie Crook, released in February 2026. The following article might contain spoilers, so watch and enjoy first.

Michael Sleep is a middle-aged man living a lonely existence in a house full of cardboard boxes, with a living room recreating a 1970s Christmas Day. The neighbours nag him about his overgrown garden. He works in a DIY superstore, making fun of customers, and his boss, who focuses on issues like whether the vending machine has enough beef flavour Discos.

He visits his father, Brian, in a care home. Brian has forgotten that Michael’s partner, Clea, disappeared some years previously. When Brian remembers Clea’s disappearance, he offers to help his son by sharing an alchemical recipe taught to him in Egypt by an Italian mystic. This recipe apparently creates small, magical people – homunculi – in water filled glass jars. These creatures have the power of divination and will be able to answer Michael’s questions about Clea.

What’s going on here then? Initially, I assumed the homunculi recipe was just a symptom of Brian’s declining mental state. But no. I was soon confronted by small people in glass jars.

After watching the whole series I had a think. And there seemed much to think about. There’s the fact that this story about fortune-telling homunculi begins with confusion about the past. What happened to Clea? Brian has memory issues. So the past is as enigmatic as the future, into which the homunculi are supposed to provide a glimpse. The present exists between two mysteries it seems. Michael, with the help of Kacey, a young friend from the DIY store, continues to work on his homunculi, developing them towards the stage of divination when they will be able to answer questions. And questions about the past – what happened to Clea? – are wrapped up with questions about the future – will she ever come back?

Is it a coincidence that Michael’s surname is sleep? When Michael first goes to the care home, his father is asleep, as are most of the other residents. Michael himself is shown sleeping a lot. He has strange dreams where he is on a beach holding a large egg, with seagulls flying around his head. Is there a suggestion that we live in a sort of dream state, between a past we are not sure of, and a future we plan for but cannot ever see? In the dream, the egg and all those birds could suggest the chicken and egg conundrum. Which comes first? Or do they exist in a cycle where past and future are part of each other? It is interesting that Michael’s companion in his effort to create the prophets is Kacey, a young woman. Older and younger are working together. Clea, lost in the past, may live on. There could be a chance that Micheal will find her again one day in the future.

Of one thing we can be sure. If Michael does find what he is looking for, it will not be like locating a bucket in a DIY store, or seeing your road illuminated by those pointless security lights, serving only to wake up neighbours with their annoying on and off routine. True answers are revealed in a way that is more like Clea’s name, with its hidden reference to the word ‘clear’, which at first you might not notice. Interesting mystery remains in the clarity.

This is a lot for BBC 2 on a Monday evening in February. Small Prophets is a fascinating, thought provoking and clearly brilliant piece.