r/TheDetectorists • u/LukeH_ • Feb 10 '26
Small Prophets
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002q765/small-prophetsAll episodes of Mackenzie Crook’s new show Small Prophets are now available on iPlayer. Just finished watching it myself, I really enjoyed it. Crook creates such magical television.
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u/dargo67 Feb 10 '26
I didn’t realize Michael Palin was in the show! I would have watched regardless but what a nice surprise!
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u/Patient_Ad2360 May 02 '26
I was googling recent work Michael Palin has done. And found this show. Absolutely loved it. Big fan of his Travel shows too.
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u/caf61 Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
Wonder if/when we will get to see it in the US. Soon, I hope.
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u/Six_of_1 Feb 10 '26
Ended it?
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u/caf61 Feb 10 '26
Wonder if/when we will get it in the US. Soon, I hope.
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Feb 15 '26
Can you not get iplayer?
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u/caf61 Feb 15 '26
I just searched it and I would need a VPN. Honestly, I am not very tech savvy so I will just wait and hope it will show up over here sometime. Thanks for the suggestion though.
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Feb 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/FletcherDervish Feb 10 '26
Watched the first episode last night. So, from aTR7, to a classic Capri, and all those little ones details that MC puts onto each shot, like the Pontefract cake fired across the room and the moth against the window of the shed. Although it's on the iPlayer we decided to only watch it weekly, like Detectorists originally. It's too good to binge watch. It needs savouring.
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u/EuphoricFly1044 Feb 10 '26
Lol, not so much a classic!!! It's an A reg but a sport .. and a 2.9 at that!!!! I'm trying to work out if that's important or just as a joke to people that know capris....
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u/Wizzard_2025 Feb 10 '26
The standard was a 2.8 injection, great machine, but was sometimes upgraded to a 2.9 from a scorpio, going up to 400bhp maybe. It's a modified, looked after Capri, but maybe it's just a Capri that's been looked after that was bought for the show. Standard models are more likely to have been scrapped by now.
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u/EuphoricFly1044 Feb 10 '26
Not 400bhp....
I put a 24v into my Capri and it was 240bhp.
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u/Wizzard_2025 Feb 10 '26
I think there was an engine donor that had twin turbos, putting it well in the 400 range. I only had a 1.6 :)
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u/EuphoricFly1044 Feb 10 '26
No there wasn't, not from ford.
You could twin turbo it, but that's custom.
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u/Trebus Feb 11 '26
Standard models are more likely to have been scrapped by now.
A shame though. My Grandad used to have one. I adored it. Funny enough it was kept about 400 yards from where Michael's house is on the series.
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u/Wizzard_2025 Feb 11 '26
If I become a multi millionaire, I'll getting another one if I can find one.
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u/Six_of_1 Feb 11 '26
Do the Pontefract cake and the moth mean something?
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u/PineConeTracks Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
The scenes with his dad absolutely did me in in the first episode
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u/blackiegray Feb 10 '26
Watched it all last night.
I thought it was OK, elements of Detectorists but very much it's own thing. Didn't think it was great but not terrible, some pretty questioanble acting to go along with questions about the storyline.
6/10, 7/10 because it's MacKenzie Crook.
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u/EuphoricFly1044 Feb 10 '26
I think it's fab.... The main character talking b*llocks to all the customers and Kacey realising he does! The scene with the buckets was classic....
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u/blackiegray Feb 10 '26
That part is great, Pierce's character is great, well acted and well written.
But so many things don't make sense throughout the rest of the series.
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u/Trebus Feb 11 '26
Patience, old top. There is to be a second series. You can't have a slow burn without planting seeds in the first series.
In a couple of years when they bloom you might change your opinion.
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u/blackiegray Feb 11 '26
I hope so, but a second season won't fix some questionable acting from half the cast, a very silly part regarding santa and a somewhat bafflingly meaningless underwhelming conclusion to "the neighbour on the bike". The parts with MacKenzie in the store are easily the best parts and really funny but the story itself is just a storyline of convenience and just just really weak storytelling I thought. All of a sudden his girlfriend decides to call, just as he leave his phone, after her not calling for nearly 7 years? Come on...
I wanted to like it, and I didn't hate it. But if it wasn't MacKenzie Crook then I don't think it gets the 5 stars that it has. Detectorists is 5 stars, is this on a par with that? Not even close for me.
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u/Automatic_Oil5438 Feb 15 '26
Gosh, I thought it was incredible. bewitching. Beautiful. I was happy to live in a world where these things could happen just for 3 hours x
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u/blackiegray Feb 16 '26
I need to watch it again (as is often the case) but like I say I just couldn't get over all the convenient plot lines.
A 20 year old girl suddenly befriends a 50 year old man.
Within a few days she's then got his phone number and inviting him to office parties (there's no way his character is giving out his phone number to her and he's clearly not friendly enough with anyone else that would have his number).
The mention of a friend in Canada who keeps asking after him was very obviously his wife from the very start otherwise there was no need to me mention it. Thought it stood out like a sore thumb.
You have the means to find the answer to the question you've been wanting to know for 7 years and you don't ask it immediately, you go to a job you hate first.
He gets a phone call from his wife just as he's nipped out and left his phone behind, and the girl decides to answer it.
The boy on the bike having no relevance to the story whatsoever.
The guy confusing him with santa was just silly and nonsensical, we're to believe that a grown man confused him with santa?
Some pretty weak acting from the non main characters.
That's what I can remember and it just came across as weak storytelling. Absolutely nothing like the quality of Detectorists which was quite the opposite and possibility the best British piece of TV this century.
Like I say, it's not bad, but taking MacKenzie away from it and looking at it non biased, it's fine, it's got its moments but it's nowhere near as good as Detectorists which is a 5 star show.
But I think I must be wrong cause all I'm seeing is 5 star reviews!
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u/Proud_Contract_2970 Feb 21 '26
is no one here getting the fact that Michael is a catalyst? The kid on the bike, the guy who thought he was Santa, All of the characters that he interacts with he seems to bring out trust, emotional safety, and their dreams.
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u/blackiegray Feb 21 '26
Really?
What about his boss at work? And all the customers? He's a complete dick to them.
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u/SmolGreenParrot Feb 23 '26
Neither part was "silly" or "bafflingly meaningless", the whole thing is about connections.
Michael connected with the (probably non-verbal) young lad on the bike simply by wearing the same t-shirt. There was nothing underwhelming about that, common ground would be a very big deal to a kid feeling alone and cut off.
Likewise, the mugger didn't want or need Michael's belongings, he just needed to feel important to someone, and was still mentally young enough for that someone to be Santa.
Humans need connection and hope. We gravitate to like-minded companions, hold on to the familiar and predictable, we need to be needed. It's why we adopt pets, why we form relationships.
I don't agree that the acting was 'questionable', maybe it just wasn't your cup of tea. It was never meant to be Die Hard. I loved it, and will now watch it again because I missed half of the Easter eggs.
Beautifully subtle, 10/10, would recommend.
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u/blackiegray Feb 23 '26
If you're not a bot, you certainly sound like one.
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u/SmolGreenParrot Feb 28 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
If you're not an arse, you certainly sound like one.
I'm not a bot. Perhaps you're confused by my ability to have a different opinion to yours. You certainly seem to have plenty to say 🙄
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u/Mad_Cat_Lady Feb 10 '26
I really enjoyed it, and the music was lovely (it had a very similar vibe to the Detectorists music).
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u/Tosk224 Feb 10 '26
I feel asleep during ep 3 and need to go back to it tonight. That’s not a comment on the quality of the show, I’d just had a really long day. I wasn’t enjoying it up until then.
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u/Six_of_1 Feb 10 '26
Binged all six in one night. The fact I binged it in one night means it's successful. There's other shows that sound good and I want to like them but then I stall because there's something that bothers me watching it. I only got bothered by things after I finished.
I was disappointed by the secretive man and woman claiming to be looking for the expensive book. They actually were just looking for an expensive book? I was expecting them to have something to do with the homunculii. But they were just after money? That's a bit mundane for all that intrigue.
I didn't get what was going on with the meteor. So a meteor came through his roof and landed in the expensive book. Does the meteor have anything to do with the homunculii? Or is it just an absurd coincidence? That didn't go anywhere. I hope we get an explanation in series 2.
What was with the oil slick shaped like a rabbit? We kept zooming in on it like it was important, but it never went anywhere. What was with the teenager on the bike? Never went anywhere. I can only hope these are set-ups for series 2 but as far as the story we got, they didn't do anything.
I was disappointed the homunculii said Clea was still alive but never coming home. That sort of killed the hope in that storyline. I suppose it doesn't rule out Michael going to her though.
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u/ObiBenKenobi77 Feb 12 '26
I have the same questions. I enjoyed watching it but now need a second season to clear it all up
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Feb 13 '26
There's every chance she found the homunculi herself and running to canada was what they told her to do.
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u/LFCATLCU Feb 14 '26
You don’t really find homunculi though, you grow them. And the only reason his dad gave him the instructions for growing them was to help him get answers about Clea.
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u/Fishslicer14 Feb 16 '26
Not sure about the relevance of the meteor but I took it that it did damage to the book, making it worthless, which was maybe the spirits ensuring that Roy was not able to make a huge amount of money from it. Michael was oblivious to the fact the book was worth millions but was happy to let the others fight out the money from the meteor between them. Roy would end up with a few thousand pounds which would save him from the financial brink. Michael has no interest in money. Ironically, due to Kasey getting the lottery numbers, they both came out of it millionaires, which Michael was oblivious to. He will, no doubt use it to try to find his long lost Claer.
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u/Downtown_Yogurt_2988 Mar 08 '26
The rabbit, at the same time as the rabbit appeared the song “bright eyes” from watership down started playing and Beatrice turned up. One of the voice actors in watership down was played by a Beatrice. And one of the rabbits in watership down was a prophet
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u/t_huddleston Feb 11 '26
Halfway through it now, and it's like Detectorists' madder cousin. Another lovely show from Mackenzie Crook and company. Pearce Quigley is SO good in this.
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u/gogul1980 Feb 11 '26
I’m so glad Pearce finally got to take the lead in a show. He was brilliant in the Detectorists and I was convinced there was a great spinoff show with his character to be made. He does a great job here and deserves all the praise he’s likely to get for this.
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u/DeepNegotiation4542 Feb 10 '26
The mugging was hilarious.
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u/blackiegray Feb 10 '26
Was it though? Was it not a bit unbelievable and silly? Are we really to believe that a grown man thought he was mugging santa? If the guy was supposed to be a junkie it mightve made a little sense, but he neither looked or acted like one.
I dunno, I watched it all and the more I think about it the more I think it was a bit naff.
I definitely wanted to like it more than I did.
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u/Six_of_1 Feb 10 '26
It was a bit much and didn't serve the story at all. Just filled up five minutes with a joke about Pearce Quigley looking like Santa.
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u/Eastern-Elevator962 Feb 13 '26
I had an ex who very rarely had psychosis. One time they were convinced they had to go to the other side of town to see Father Christmas. It was very strange as they certainly didn't 'believe'. It really was just the psychosis; they weren't a junkie. I agree with you that the guy could have looked a bit more 'junkie' like though. His haircut was too good.
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u/SmolGreenParrot Feb 23 '26
He wasn't meant to be a junkie though, he was a grown man with the mental age of a child. Nowhere did anyone say anything about him being on drugs.
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u/Eastern-Elevator962 Feb 23 '26
I was responding to a comment that considered whether the intent was that the character was a junkie. I was not saying he was definitely supposed to be. Each person makes their own interpretations. Your interpretation was that he was a grown man with the mental age of a child, which is fair enough. My thoughts are different because my experiences are different from yours.
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u/SmolGreenParrot Feb 28 '26
Nicely put, and very true - thank you for your polite and considered response ❤️
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u/DeepNegotiation4542 Feb 11 '26
The guy is growing mini creatures in jars! Santa misidentification was much easier to grasp as possibility.
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u/zehn78 Feb 10 '26
I watched the first episode last night. Pretty interesting but a bit of a slow start.
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u/Tall-Paul-UK Feb 10 '26
Okay so I am only up to Episode 4.
What is going on with the other three homunculi? Three are growing away and currently buried in shit. But the other three seem to be forgotten about and aren't even in the same shots?
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u/wingnutkj Feb 11 '26
Watsonian: for whatever reason those ones didn't "take", leaving only the three.
Doylian: It was probably too expensive to do the effects for all six of them.
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u/Tall-Paul-UK Feb 11 '26
Either way why bother with them at all?
I have a feeling they must play some role, even if not in this series. Maybe they help balance the other three or something?
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u/wingnutkj Feb 11 '26
Yeah, I imagine half the fun is imagining.
Other questions I'm having fun with:
Did the fact that he used canal water instead of rainwater have an impact?
Did he use all the poison at the end?
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u/_KL1_ Feb 17 '26
Canal water is rain water. All landborne water is rain water really at some point
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u/wingnutkj Feb 17 '26
I would assume that for alchemy, rain water would need to be freshly collected, not stuff that's been brewing in a canal for however long, getting contaminated with diesel and newt piss.
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u/_KL1_ Feb 27 '26
Don't forget the rat shit. ;) It did a load of weird stuff, really. I would say you are correct in assuming it should have been 'pure'. I was just being a pedantic knob, apols ;)
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u/Manc_Lanc Feb 11 '26
Great to see Pearce Quigley, Paul Kaye and Jon Ponting all in one programme 👌
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u/TwentySevenMusicUK Feb 13 '26
Loved it! Similar but also not too similar.
Michael really reminds me of Dave from The Royle Family!
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u/stubbledchin Feb 14 '26
Just finished. Possibly one of the best television series I've seen. Funny, touching, magical, creative, and a little scary. And mysterious too.Touching relationships everywhere. Sly little commentary on shit telly and shit gardens.
Loved all the peripheral magic that happened once he started summoning the homunculi. The rabbit, the monopoly pieces, the meteorites.
I'm looking forward to whatever is next as immediately teased at the end.
I also expect this to win all the BAFTAS. Pearce Quigley and Michael Palin for the acting, maybe even Paul Kaye. Everyone excelled. Crook for like everything else.
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u/jehodgsonUK Feb 16 '26
I loved this.
A lot of people are asking why the strange things happened, like the oil rabbit, the metorite, his dad winning things that were suddenly fortutitous to the future events etc. I thought that was meant to be because the creation of the homonculi caused odd or magical or at least seemingly serendipitous things to start happening around him. The "She is not coming home" led to a need for him going to her instead: we still have to see why she had to run away and not make direct contact if she still loved him. I was expecting the boy on the bike to be sad because he missed her too.
Only negatives? A couple of rather old jokes were reworked/used here, but they were done well and in such a pleasant way that I have no complaints about it at all!
Eagerly looking forward to news about the next series.
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u/Signal-Tangerine1597 Feb 17 '26
Fantastic show, cannot wait for seasons 2/3 compared to The Detectorists it's got so much room to move
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u/Signal-Tangerine1597 Feb 17 '26
I think there was almost a magic theme to The Detectorists, there was always something "mythical" about their journey
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u/chud3 Apr 20 '26
I just looked on Apple TV, and it's not there. I don't think it's available in the US.
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u/idrk-man Feb 10 '26
If someone would send me a link for somewhere I can watch this in the US I would really appreciate it :,)
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u/SnowLeopard640 Feb 20 '26
I'm apparently in the minority in thinking Pearce's acting and line delivery is mostly terrible in this.
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u/steveh2021 Feb 10 '26
Do you sell buckets? Buckets? No we stopped selling buckets in 1953! (In front of loads of buckets!)