Small Prophets gives us the eccentric… or just downright weird Michael (Pearce Quigley – The Critic), who appears to be just a lazy bum who does nothing about his overgrown front garden.
Mine needs a good trim, and I’ve only left it because the stupid council started having a charge to use the green bins. I was hoping it would go away for the new tax year from April 2026, but no… it looks like it’s continuing, as we see how he tells a customer that No, they don’t sell buckets… when there’s a billion behind him…
Anyhoo, he works in a B&Q-type store alongside Kacey (Lauren Patel) and Gordon (Mackenzie Crook – who also wrote/directed this, and his character has a dodgy eye), an inept manager who’s forever only interested in sending people on their break, while Michael’s clearly rather sick of the job.
His partner, Clear, ran away years ago, around Christmas, and hasn’t been seen since – a fact that’s clearly imprinted upon his mind as you’ll discover, while Paul Kaye (The Stranger) crops up as her brother, Roy; and Michael Palin is also here as Michael’s Dad, Brian, living in a care home, who makes detailed marble runs, which are rather cool.
While Michael’s stuck in a major rut, salvation may just be around the corner, but while obviously zero spoilers from me, even if he stays in the rut, there’s so much about this that is just fucking brilliant and is making me crack up.
For example – and this is not a plot spoiler – episode 3 features two police constables. I urge you to wait until you watch the programme before you see their names, but I have to note them down here just in case you can’t wait…
Oh, and in the same episode, I also spotted the same path I often go for a walk down, some way down from Sale Waterside.
And it’s high time that Pearce Quigley also had a leading role in a programme.
Thanks to our friends at BBC for the screeners prior to release.
Small Prophets begins tonight on BBC2 at 10pm.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Once broadcast, the episodes will be on BBC iPlayer.
Director: Mackenzie Crook
Producer: Gill Isles
Writer: Mackenzie Crook
Cast:
Michael: Pearce Quigley
Brian: Michael Palin
Kacey: Lauren Patel
Bev: Sophie Willan
Clive: Jon Pointing
Gordon: Mackenzie Crook
Kaitlin Thorncroft: Riana Duce
Brigham: Ed Kear
Hilary: Charlotte Mills
Olive: Shola Adewusi
Roy: Paul Kaye
Bob: Howard Gossington
Bea: Kathryn Drysdale
Elliot: Adam Wright
Stevo: Arnold Baksi
Kid: Rocco Haynes
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.