By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN? Tuesday 18 August 2026 Show airs from Wednesday 26 August 2026 on U&Alibi

The genius of Mark Gatiss period detective drama Bookish is that as well as 3 Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries to solve each series it boasts a heartfelt emotional backstory of lost love, longing and hope to keep you glued.

• Read on for reasons including how the Christmas special is in the can and a 3rd series starts shooting soon

Gabriel Book is the name of the new-ish creation by Gatiss (The Motive And The Cue, National Theatre) who runs a London book shop in 1946 while not solving crime.

He’s gay and in a ‘lavender marriage’ meaning he and his wife Trottie played by Polly Walker (Line Of Duty) are childhood friends rather than lovers which protects both from an unforgiving world.

We watch the 45-minute episode 1 in a 2nd series of 6 called Memento Mori written by Gatiss (see main picture) which boasts a scenestealing turn by Jason Watkins (The Seagull, Barbican Theatre) as a spiritualist murdered during a seance.

In season 1 we learned that Book was parted from his German lover Felix, played by Jonas Nay, and that the Books had offered a job to Connor Finch’s Jack, later revealed as Felix’s son.

When the spiritualist asks for a memento and Jack offers a picture of Felix the revelations stir hope in the young man but also place our beloved detective hero Book in danger.

This Q&A is hosted by Richard Osman, whose wife Ingrid Oliver is in parts 5 and 6 of this series (Killer Nacht, see below) and visited the set, who speaks admiringly – ‘it looks a million dollars’ – of the show’s highly evocative and individual style which seems to punch well above its budget.

Gatiss says: ‘It was an incredible vote of confidence to be recomissioned for this 2nd series even before the 1st season went out. But it has also gone so well and it’s lovely that people really responded to it. I even achieved my childhood ambition of being on the front cover of the Radio and TV Times in the same week.’

Gatiss speaks of his enthusiasm for researching the post-World War Two period and being inspired – ‘The royal family were booed when visiting bomb sites’ – and will touch on gay bashing in this season – ‘It’s very important to show it’s not all roses.’

In episode 1 we meet a possible new squeeze for Trottie, Rupert Graves’ dashing and mysterious colonel, as Book risks exposing his lavender marriage in the increasingly dangerous and violent city.

We’re joined by Gatiss’ co-stars Connor Finch and Buket Kömür, who plays Nora, and he explains: ‘There’s a lot of Connor smiling in episodes 3 and 4 which is really nice to see. There’s even a sequence I gifted to Connor to bring him to the attention of the Bond producers.’ 

Kömür speaks touchingly about how the show feels like a family – a concept embraced by fans who awarded it our monsta for Best TV of 2025 – and how this is especially important for her character who lost her parents in the blitz.

We’ve yet to see episodes 5 and 6 in this season – Killer Nacht pictured above – but they promise to shed some light on the fate of the missing lover/father Felix as well as boasting the brilliant Miranda Richardson in its cast.

We can’t recommend getting stuck in to Bookish highly enough and the prospect of a Christmas special and a 3rd season just made our Bookish summer.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy BFI Tickets
• Have you seen a Mark Gatiss show before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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