Elyot Boudart, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
With 'Small Prophets,' Apple TV Buys a Hit It Didn't Make — a First
Apple TV has acquired the worldwide rights to the BBC comedy-drama Small Prophets after its success on BBC Two. The deal tests whether Apple is ready to add proven shows to its originals strategy.
A first in seven years of originals
Since its launch in November 2019, Apple TV has been built almost entirely on programming it develops or commissions itself. The service has picked up individual titles before — "CODA," bought at the Sundance festival, went on to win the Best Picture Oscar — but those acquisitions premiered on Apple's platform. The same logic shaped "Trying": as MacRumors points out, Apple produced the British comedy first and licensed it to the BBC only after its own run had finished. Even foreign-language pickups such as the French-Japanese drama "Drops of God" followed that route.
"Small Prophets" reverses the flow. The show premiered on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer earlier this year, became a hit there, and only then did Apple move. According to Deadline, which first reported the agreement, Apple bought the worldwide rights from Scribe Abacus, the distributor representing the show's producers — Blue House, Hot Olives and Treasure Trove Productions, Crook's own company. The deal is not a co-production with the BBC, of which Apple has signed several: this time, Apple is simply the buyer of a finished series.
What Apple is getting
Pearce Quigley stars as Michael Sleep, an ordinary man who has spent the seven years since his partner Clea disappeared working in a DIY store and visiting his elderly father. When his dad hands him an old recipe, Michael starts brewing homunculi — small magical spirits said to predict the future — hoping to learn whether Clea will come back. Set in the suburbs of Manchester, the series mixes live action with animated sequences and builds an unlikely friendship between Michael and his young co-worker Kacey.
Crook remains best known internationally as Gareth in the original British version of "The Office" — the character reworked as Dwight in the American remake — and as the creator of "Detectorists," the BAFTA-winning BBC comedy about two metal-detecting enthusiasts. "Small Prophets" trades in the same gentle, melancholy humor, and that tone is precisely what Apple appears to be paying for.
A pedigree the numbers back up
The series is more than a critical darling. Its debut delivered BBC Two's strongest 28-day launch for a comedy since 2022, according to Deadline, and the season holds a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. In March, it won the International Panorama award at Series Mania in Lille, the largest television-series festival in Europe. Deadline compares its warm, serialized storytelling to "Ted Lasso" — a flattering reference at Apple, where the fourth season of the flagship comedy just delivered the service's biggest premiere ever, per MacRumors.
October 7 everywhere — except the UK
Apple will release the season worldwide on October 7. British viewers are the one exception: the show stays on BBC iPlayer for roughly five more months, according to AppleInsider, before joining Apple TV there as well. The staggered window reflects who was there first — the BBC funded and aired the series, Apple is extending its reach to the rest of the world.
Why change the playbook now
The timing is hard to separate from the service's economics. Apple TV moved to $14.99 a month in late August, its fourth increase since 2022, and a subscription that now costs three times its 2019 launch price needs a catalog to match. Buying a finished, proven hit is faster and cheaper than developing one: the production risk was carried by the BBC, and the reviews already exist. Netflix and Amazon have always mixed originals with acquired programming; Apple had so far tiptoed around that model, notably with a rotating selection of licensed films in its US app, but never for a television series carrying another broadcaster's stamp of approval.
A second season in search of a home
Crook is reportedly writing an eight-part second and final series, and AppleInsider notes that the BBC has not yet confirmed commissioning it. Where that season lands — BBC first, Apple first, or both at once — will show whether "Small Prophets" was a one-off opportunity or the start of a genuine acquisition strategy. October 7 brings the first measurable test: whether a British hit that has already been seen at home can find a second, global audience on Apple TV.