According to Broadcast, the first episode saw an audience of 270,000 tune in, making up 2.5 per cent of the audience for that time slot, way ahead of the 43,000 (0.3 per cent) benchmark.
Meanwhile, episode 2 retained the majority of the audience, with 202,000 (2 per cent) sticking around, once again ahead of the 45,000 (0.3 per cent) slot average.
Mark Gatiss in Bookish. UKTV
Bookish didn’t quite manage to match the opening of Nicola Walker’s Annika, which saw 410,000 (2.5 per cent) tune in in August 2022 – however, it is still a very strong start, especially considering that the series is already available to watch in full on platforms such as Sky and Virgin.
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UKTV clearly knew they had a hit on their hands long before the episodes debuted, as the series was renewed for season 2 a couple of months ago, and is set to go back into production this summer.
Not only will creator and star Gatiss be back, but so will the rest of the central cast, including Polly Walker (Bridgerton), Elliot Levey (We Were the Lucky Ones), Connor Finch (Professor T), Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners) and Buket Kömür (Generation Z).
The series follows Gatiss’s character Gabriel Book, the owner of an antiquarian bookshop in London in 1946, who also helps the police to solve crimes.
Bookish airs weekly on Wednesdays on U&Alibi. The series is available to stream in full on demand on Sky, Virgin, BT and TalkTalk.
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