Small Prophets: The Best Fantasy Series of 2026 Hits Apple TV in 48 Hours

The year 2026 has been big for fantasy TV, with new seasons of The Witcher, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and the debut of HBO's Harry Potter. But according to critics, the best fantasy series of the year isn't any of those. It's a little-known BBC sitcom called Small Prophets, finally coming to U.S. streaming this week.

The show debuts on Apple TV on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The first two episodes will drop together, and the remaining four episodes in season 1 will release weekly every following Wednesday through Nov. 4.

Small Prophets is the latest creation from Mackenzie Crook, best known to many audiences for playing Pirates of the Caribbean's Ragetti. Crook previously wrote and starred in the underrated sitcom Detectorists, and his new show follows a similar recipe: warm-hearted, off-kilter, and packed with subtly perceptive humanism.

The series centers on Michael Sleep, a middle-aged man whose wife left him seven years ago without explanation. In his loneliness and grief, he starts following the unorthodox advice of his father, Brian, who now lives with dementia in a retirement home. Brian once visited sorcerers in Egypt, and now Michael finds himself tending to jars of organic alchemy in his garage, hoping the strange contents might tell him whether he'll ever see his wife again.

Screen Rant reports that the fantasy elements are initially passed off as figments of Brian's imagination. But as Michael shares his secret hobby with a curious work friend named Kacey, the show becomes a relatable, funny, and intensely moving story of a man finding his way forward in the unlikeliest of hobbies.

The cast includes Pearce Quigley as Michael, Lauren Patel as Kacey, and Monty Python's Michael Palin, among other British screen luminaries. The BBC has already renewed Small Prophets for season 2, Screen Rant reports, citing the series' relative success in the UK and its rave reviews.