Secrets are stock-in-trade for any detective worth their salt, but that’s especially true for Gabriel Book (played by Mark Gatiss). This charming gentleman takes great delight in observing everyone around him, sharply honing in on finer details to uncover the truth behind each case that comes his way.
Yet in doing so, Book also guards a secret of his own, one which sets him apart from the countless other detectives vying for our attention on screen these days.
Season one of Bookish did a marvellous job of balancing the thrills each mystery brings with the emotional toll Gabriel faces as a gay man in London circa 1946. Season two continues in that same vein, yet the scope of the show has been widened on both fronts.
More attention is given to the intricacies of Gabriel’s ‘lavender marriage’ with Trottie (Bridgerton’s Polly Walker), while the cases themselves expand their reach beyond London, the ’40s, and even life itself in season two’s spooky premiere.
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Jason Watkins, the first of many notable guest stars, plays a medium named Harold Sneed who Book is quick to describe as a “grief leech”. When a seance of his ends with death of a more immediate nature, Book must figure out who sent a new spirit off to join the ones Sneed and his customers were already talking to.
Bookish keeps the atmosphere light, however, as is custom for a cosy British murder-mystery of this nature. No matter who’s died or how, Book always has a quip or two on hand.
“Like the dead, murder travels fast,” he says upon arriving at his first crime scene this season. “Well, news of it anyway.”
The way Book ends up solving this particular case is rather amusing too, continuing a tone already established to perfection in season one. Later cases veer a little darker though, a little more personal, as wider interconnecting stories are also weaved in.
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Chief among those concerns the fate of a supposedly dead man named Felix. By the end of season one, it was revealed that Book’s new assistant, Jack Blunt (Connor Finch), is Felix’s son, and it just so happens that Book himself once loved this man deeply.
That revelation strengthened the bond that binds this chosen family together, all while creating a new mystery that comes to a head when the two men visit Germany this season to find out what really happened to Felix.
Flashbacks, international travel, and twists galore set this final case apart as the show’s biggest yet, revealing a kind of ambition so rarely considered in this most old-fashioned of genres.
Bookish is better than most when it comes to threading personal concerns into quaint tropes that characterise such sleuthing, which makes for a far more absorbing experience.
That’s very much the case when it comes to Book’s queerness as well.
“People tell me you’re very discrete,” someone says to him early on. “How indiscreet of them,” Book replies in a nod and wink to us, the viewer.
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The show itself is much less discrete, however. While Book is hardly declaring his love for men from the rooftops or even bumping uglies with other discrete lads in Soho, his identity as a gay man is organically interwoven into much of the narrative, be it in a hook-up that goes wrong or through his enduring love for Felix.
Crucially, Bookish doesn’t just stop there either.
Gatiss, the show’s actor, writer and creator, teased (via Radio Times) that Book’s lavender marriage will “fray at the edges” this season. Now that the new episodes have arrived, it’s wonderful to see just how sensitively the show goes about this.
Gabriel isn’t the only member of the Book household this show is named for, after all. Trottie plays a crucial role too, carving out more space for herself this season with a love story of her own, one that might make her reconsider the limits of her marriage to Gabriel.
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Bookish further sets itself apart with another colourful roster of guest stars this season, including Rupert Graves (Sherlock), Youssef Kerkour (Stay Close), Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) and Ruth Codd (The Midnight Club), not to mention the legendary Miranda Richardson of Blackadder and Good Omens fame.
Hats off to Bookish for standing out among a new wave of cosy crime dramas that are sweeping the nation these days, differentiating itself from competitors such as Ludwig and The Hairdresser Mysteries with its own uniquely realised world.
What Gatiss has achieved, both in front of and behind the camera, is no small feat. As such, it’s heartening to see that talent rewarded, not just with yet another early season renewal, but also with an upcoming Christmas special set to air later this year.
The two-part special, titled Bookish: The Crown of Destiny, will throw Gabriel into “a seasonal mystery packed with festive charm, surprises and a dash of Christmas spirit” before a third season arrives on U&alibi next year.
Bookish was TV’s best kept-secret last year, a delightful old-fashioned yarn with touches of modernity that immediately established it as something special. But with a second season that doubles down on what made the first a success, it’s no secret how or why Bookish has already become one of the best detective shows out there today.
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Bookish season 2 is set to premiere on 26 August on U&alibi. Season 1 can be streamed via Sky and NOW.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.Â
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.Â
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.Â