I Watch TV: Small Prophets

 

Small Prophets

Michael Sleep’s girlfriend Clea vanished nearly seven years ago and he’s not really got over it. He lives in her house, which is full of the boxes from her storage units when she sold antiques and things, and he’s recreating a photograph of a childhood Christmas. His neighbour Clive wants him to tidy up the garden (house values) and generally disapproves of his eccentricities; Clive’s wife and his other neighbours just take him as he is. He works in a DIY store, where he continually annoys his ineffective boss.

Things start to change though. Clea’s brother Roy has been going through a bad patch and is preparing to have Clea declared dead, after which he will inherit the house. Michael’s father Brian, in a retirement home, is having memory problems. But he also has records of the time he grew homunculi, who can answer questions. Someone is trying to locate Michael and it’s not clear why. Michael makes friends with Casey at work, and when he starts to grow the homunculi, for reasons unclear even to himself as he’s unsure, he accepts an invitation to the pub and tells all his workmates.

On the one hand this story circles, with Michael every episode going to work, seeing his father, going on to the next stage of homunculi. On the other it’s a fine comedy, with Michael doing his job badly or weirdly or just in a manner that the boss disapproves of, brushing off everyone who wants something from him. And more, strange events occur; when his car has a oil leak it forms the shape of a rabbit; Brian gets inexplicable letters (and prizes as he enters every competition)*; a shooting star comes down. And sometimes hidden, sometimes front and centre is a quiet sadness, layers with mystery, ritual and wonder.

Watch This: Closely observed absurd comedy that is also a contemporary fantasy story
Don’t Watch This: People growing weird little creatures in their back garden is weird

* Michael fails to see that all the things that annoy and cause him trouble about his father are much the same things that he does to his boss at work