Sir Michael Palin, Sophie Willan and Jon Pointing are to star in a new comedy  Mackenzie Crook has created for the BBC.

Small Prophets revolves around eccentric Michael Sleep, who, since his wife Clea disappeared seven years ago, has lived a very ordinary life. He eats Shreddies, works in a DIY store, visits dad Brian (Sir Michael Palin) and hopes for Clea to return. 

But one day, Brian shares an old recipe to create Homunculi - magical prophesying spirits that can predict the future - which Michael hopes will answer his burning question: ‘Will I ever see Clea again?’. 

Michael gets help from young workmate Kacey (Lauren Patel), while Willan and Pointing play nosy neighbours obsessed with trying to find out what is going on in his garden shed.

Sheep will be played by Pearce Quigley, who was Russell in Crook’s previous hit Detectorists, while Crook plays his boss Gordon.

Filmed in and around Manchester, Small Prophets – which is still a working title – is produced by Car Share’s Gill Isles , and incorporates elements of animation. 

Crook said: Like all my best ideas, this one has been percolating for nearly a decade and is finally ready to see the light of day. It’s wonderful to be working again with my friends Gill Isles and Pearce Quigley and to realise a long-term ambition of collaborating with animators Ainslie Henderson and Will Anderson.’’

He is also directing the show, having recently been behind the camera of Bridget Christie’s Channel 4 comedy The Change.’

Isles said: ‘I’m absolute thrilled to be working with Mackenzie again on such a funny, beautiful and unique show.’

The six-part series was announced at the BBC Comedy Festival in Belfast today.

Jon Petrie, the broadcaster’s director of comedy, said: ‘BBC viewers are in for a treat with Bafta winner Mackenzie Crook’s Small Prophets. This magical comedy series brims with wit and wonder - from Mackenzie himself and Sir Michael Palin to Sophie Willan, Pearce Quigley, Lauren Patel and Jon Pointing - and is backed by a top-tier creative team and stunning animation. It’s British comedy at its finest.’

Made by:  Treasure Trove and Blue House
Written and directed by: Mackenzie Crook
Commissioned by: BBC director of comedy Jon Petrie
Executive producers: Mackenzie Crook, Lisa Thomas, Christine Gernon and Emma Strain
Commissioning editor : Emma Lawson.