MAGIC TOUCH

MACKENZIE CROOK TELLS YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI WHY IT HAS TAKEN HIM A DECADE TO CREATE HIS NEW COMEDY SERIES SMALL PROPHETS

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FRIENDSHIP: Michael and Kacey (Lauren Patel) NOSY NEIGHBOURS Sophie Willan and Jon Pointing, above, and Shola Adewusi, below

MACKENZIE CROOK is no stranger to finding the funny in eccentricity, as anyone familiar with his breakthrough role as Gareth in The Office will attest to.

Now the Worzel Gummidge actor is discovering humour in absurdity in his new series Small Prophets, in which he plays Gordon, the manager of a large DIY store.

It's a comic tale of eccentric Michael Sleep, played by Mackenzie's Detectorists colleague Pearce Quigley who, since his partner Clea disappeared seven years ago, has lived a very ordinary life.

Michael works in the DIY store with Gordon and visits his dad, Brian played by Monty Python legend Sir Michael Palin, every afternoon. When Brian shares an old recipe involving rainwater, horse manure and more than a little alchemy, Michael sets out to create homunculi - magical prophesying spirits that can predict the future - in the hope they have the answer to his burning question, 'Will I ever see Clea again?!

Michael gets help from young workmate Kacey, played by Lauren Patel, an unlikely friendship that blossoms partly through their mutual dislike of store manager Gordon.

Their friendship adds to the frustration and intrigue of his nosy neighbours, played by Sophie Willan, Jon Pointing and Shola Adewusi, who are obsessed with trying to find out what is going on in the garden shed.

Here Mackenzie, 54, discusses why Small Prophets is set in Manchester and how animation contributes to the storytelling.