Town transformed for new Mackenzie Crook comedy

On-set images of Mackenzie Crook's upcoming series have been released

A Greater Manchester town has provided the backdrop for a new BBC comedy starring Mackenzie Crook and Sir Michael Palin.

The six-part series Small Prophets, which was filmed in Urmston, centres around eccentric DIY shop worker Michael Sleep as he tries to use a magic potion to create homunculi - mythical prophesying spirits that can predict the future.

Pearce Quigley, who appeared in Crook's previous comedy Detectorists, Bafta award-winning writer and actress Sophie Willan, and Games Of Thrones star Paul Kaye also feature in the show.

It is set to be released on BBC2 and iPlayer early next year.

Pearce Quigley plays the eccentric Michael Sleep

The series is produced by Bafta award-winning Gill Isles, and also stars Jon Pointing of Plebs and Big Boys, and Lauren Patel of Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

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."

Sir Michael Palin stars as Michael Sleep's father

BBC director of comedy Jon Petrie said the show "brims with wit and wonder".

"It's British comedy at its finest," he said.