Bookish

Heavily promoted and granted a second season order before the first season had even begun airing, new crime drama Bookish was clearly expected to be a hit. Made for and broadcast on U&Alibi (until recently, simply Alibi), Bookish is the creation of Mark Gatiss, who both co-writes and stars in the series. Once best known as part of The League of Gentlemen, now most recognisable for Sherlock (which he co-created and appeared in as Mycroft Holmes), Gatiss has a well-documented love of all things vintage, old-fashioned and eccentric. Having also created spooky drama Crooked House, co-created the BBC’s 2020 Dracula miniseries, adapted and starred in the BBC adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic The First Men in the Moon, and written many episodes (as well as novels and audioplays) for Doctor Who. Bookish is the latest in a long line of television creations, and by far feels the one that most truly belongs to Gatiss.

In spite of his clear stamp on the series, Gatiss did not write it alone, with Matthew Sweet acting as co-writer. Sweet’s previous television works have been documentaries, with British Film Forever, The Rules of Film Noir, and Silent Britain reflecting his role as both journalist and cultural historian. Sweet’s only previous drama scripts have been audioplays for Doctor Who and its spin-offs. Nevertheless, he and Gatiss clearly make an excellent team, and while Gatiss’s fingerprints are all over these scripts, Sweet’s knowledge of the genre and of literature are also readily apparent. Additionally, Tim Morris acts as script editor on each episode, having previously worked in this role on such series as Snatch, Our Girl and Patience. Together, the three have created six episodes of exceptional historical mystery.

Bookish is set in London in 1946. Britain is still reeling from six years of war, and it is a time of prejudice and suspicion. Gatiss plays Gabriel Book, the softly-spoken, gentlemanly owner of Book's, an antiquarian bookshop named specifically to test the patience of grammar pedants. Organising his bookshop to a deeply eccentric system, Book has a uniquely sharp and keenly observational mind. He spends much of his time assisting the local police with their investigations in a semi-official capacity, able to walk past legal and diplomatic barriers thanks to a mysterious “letter from Churchill.” (Gatiss took inspiration from Doctor Who's psychic paper, which similarly allows the hero to overcome official barriers.) Despising clichés and closed minds but loving mysteries and the complexities of human relations, Book nevertheless considers books his true love and solving murders as merely an elaborate hobby.

Book clearly has a storied history, a little of which is slowly revealed across the series. He has seemingly had involvement with something hush-hush at the highest levels, which is implied to be the reason for his ease of access to recent crimes, as well as a degree of tolerance of his personal life. This is, after all, 1946, when homosexuality was still illegal, and while Book's sexuality is something of an open secret, it has still put him in serious trouble in the past.

Fortunately for Mr Book, there is Mrs Book. Polly Walker (Bridgerton, Rome) plays Trottie, Book's best and oldest friend and his wife in a lavender marriage. Trottie assists Book in his investigations, although this is merely a small part of her life, as she also runs a wallpaper shop and leads a very active romantic life on the sly. Gatiss and Walker share a wonderful and entirely platonic chemistry as Mr and Mrs Book, creating two characters who arrive on the screen fully realised yet clearly holding so many secrets.

Invited into the Books' world is Jack, played by the handsome and talented Connor Finch (Everything I Know About Love). Clearly one to watch, Finch is a highly charismatic actor who makes Jack into a very watchable hero. Freshly out of prison, Jack is offered a job by Book seemingly out of nothing but philanthropic kindness, although there is, unsurprisingly, some personal reason in play. Rough around the edges, highly intelligent but somewhat naïve, Jack becomes Book's assistant in all matters, both bookish and investigatory.

Also assisting Book is Nora, a teenaged orphan and full-on cockney played by Buket Kömür (Honour, Our House, Generation Z). Infectiously likeable and clearly the most intelligent person in most rooms, Nora helps out in the bookshop, tags along with Jack when a small mission requires it, and provides general assistance in Book's investigations. Elliot Levey (Da Vinci's Demons, Hotel Babylon) plays Inspector Bliss; the Lestrade to Book's Holmes; the Japp to his Poirot. They are jointly helped and hindered by Sergeant Morris (Blake Harrison – The Inbetweeners, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret), who resents Book's presence for both professional and bigoted reasons.

The six episodes of the first series make up three two-part stories, each presenting a new mystery while also beginning an ongoing story that gradually fills in some of the characters' history. Each episode boasts beautiful production standards, tightly written dialogue and an exceptional guest cast. The wonderfully titled opener, “Slightly Foxed” sees Book investigate a most unusual find: a plague pit full of ancient skeletons and one that is seemingly far too recent for it. This story features Daniel Mays (Code 404, Line of Duty, Ashes to Ashes) as East End butcher Eric Wellbeloved; Rosie Cavaliero (The Enfield Haunting, Gentleman Jack) as Mrs Dredge; and Mark Benton (The Second Coming, Waterloo Road) as Eddie. Tim McInnerny (Blackadder, Game of Thrones) also makes his first appearance as the enigmatic agent known only as “D.” He's not entirely unlike McInnerny's MI5 character, Stephen Fisher, in New Tricks; it's tempting to wonder if he's an ancestor. “Slightly Foxed” is a strong start to the series that sets up the characters and premise nicely, even if the answers to the mystery are a little too easy to guess.

The second story, “Deadly Nitrate,” adds a needed splash of glamour to the series with its tale of Hollywood stars, secret pasts and poisoned chocolates. The wonderful Joely Richardson (The Gentlemen, Nip/Tuck) is the real get for this story, playing the glamorous but ageing movie star Sandra Dare. Her onscreen lover and real-life fiancé Stewart Howard (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd – Wolf Hall, The Queen's Gambit) is only one of the many parties upon whom suspicion falls, in episodes that also feature Michael Workéyè (Black Mirror, This is Going to Hurt); Shaniqua Okwok (It's a Sin, The Flatshare) and Jonas Nay (Messiah Superstar, The Tattooist of Auschwitz). Probably the best story of the series, “Deadly Nitrate” holds a twisting A-plot while pushing the overarching story forward.

The final two-part story, “Such Devoted Sisters,” takes us to a new location, one that perfectly shows both the glamour and squalor of postwar London. A high-class hotel slowly falling into ruin, populated by exiles and old soaks. The poisoning of Trottie's old flame, he drunken Captain Orr (Mark Umbers – Hotel Portofino, Harley Street) begins and investigation that uncovers the secrets of a hotel-full of mysterious figures. Two Russian princesses, fleeing the Soviet purges, are surely the intended victims. Angeliki Papoulia (The Tunnel) and Rina Krasniqi (Okarina) are the Russian sisters (actually played by a Greek and a Kosovar), a pair who are as hard to like as they are to kill. However, the hotel is full of both possible poisoners and intended poisonees.

Elizabeth Berrington (The Office, Stella, Sanditon) makes a distinguished and classy widow as Mrs Orr. On staff are Isabelle Connolly (Mayfair Witches) as Bolshie Irish maid Eaddie, a possible love interest for Jack; Anton Antoniadis (Warrior Nun) as Ismail; and Harry Taurasi (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Borgias) as Marco. It's an especially international cast in a series that has already had an impressively mixed line-up. The most notable guest actor, however, is Paul McGann (Doctor Who, The Monocled Mutineer, The Hanging Gale) as Mr Kind the hotelier, a man who shares a long history with Book and is almost as quietly erudite.

Slow-paced, thoughtful and witty, Bookish won't appeal to lovers of action and adventure, but will charm those who like their crime with real character. If there's a complaint to be made, it's that there simply isn't enough of it. Broadcasting three stories in quick succession, a tactic carried over from Sherlock, means that the series is over quickly; even more so if streaming, when all six episodes are available at once. Splitting each story into two episodes makes little practical difference, aside from allowing a cliffhanger in the middle of each case. Fortunately, a future for the series is assured, and will hopefully stretch beyond a second run. Britain's postwar years remain underutilised by drama, and there's plenty of mileage in seeing Book and his associates adapt to a changing world. A truly engaging and entertaining series, Bookish deserves to run and run.

Daniel Tessier