Apple TV is home to a handful of beloved original TV shows and an increasingly wide slate of films, including some classics. On the same day the streaming service is hiking up the fee, we are hearing news of yet another heavy-hitting addition to the content portfolio. According to Deadline, Apple has acquired worldwide rights for streaming “Small Prophets,” which first made its premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC TV earlier this year. And before we dig into more details, here is the interesting part.
Small Prophets currently has a rating of 100% freshness on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty rare for an entertainment property. For comparison, Apple TV hits like Silo command a 92% rating, while Dark Matter sits at 90% on the site. Ted Lasso, one of the biggest hits of Apple TV and awards season darling, has a 98% Tomatometer rating on the platform.
Created, written, and directed by Mackenzie Crook, Small Prophets is a comedy-drama with fantasy and magical elements. The series follows Michael Sleep, played by Pearce Quigley, who explores alchemical science and the mythical homunculus concept to unravel the secrets behind the disappearance of their partner.
The rest of the cast includes Michael Palin, Lauren Patel, Sophie Willan, and Jon Pointing. Apple TV’s acquisition of Small Prophets is a touch surprising, but not beyond its usual ballpark. The streamer has traditionally focused on science fiction, deep mythology-inspired lore, and book adaptations, delivering hits like Silo and Foundation in the process.
Small Prophets was also a hit with critics. The Guardian’s Jack Seale gave it a rare 5/5 star rating, noting that “Mackenzie Crook’s magical new comedy is pure, pure pleasure.” Over at the Financial Times, Rebecca Nicholson wrote that “Small Prophets is undoubtedly a treasure, and deserves to be discovered by as many people as possible.” The landing page for the British comedy series is already live on Apple TV, and it will be up for your streaming pleasure starting October 7 worldwide, except in the UK.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.