Bookish on U&Alibi: meet Gabriel Book, the charming new TV detective

It’s 1946. Gabriel Book is the proprietor of Book’s Bookshop in Archangel Lane, London – a mild-mannered bookseller in charge of a long-standing family business, who won’t just find you the book you need, he’ll find you the one you didn’t even know you needed.

Gabriel isn’t in this business for the money. He wants each and every book to go to a customer who will appreciate it, and only then will he make a sale. Besides, he also has what we in 2025 would call a side hustle. He’s a consultant detective for the police.

This is Bookish, a new series created by Mark Gatiss and co-written by Gatiss and Matthew Sweet, with Gatiss also starring as Gabriel. It follows in a fine tradition of sleuths whose astonishing powers of deduction are invaluable to the authorities – very much like Sherlock Holmes.

Gatiss was one of the people behind the recent TV version of Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Gatiss also played Sherlock’s brother Mycroft), so who better to bring this new detective to life?

Bookish is coming to U&Alibi HD (CH 114) on Wednesday 16 July at 8pm. Have a look at the trailer below.

As gifted and tenacious as he is, Gabriel doesn’t work alone. In fact he has quite the squad of amateur crime-solvers around him, beginning with his wife Trottie (Polly Walker), who also owns the wallpaper store next door to Book’s.

She and Gabriel have been best friends since they were children and share a similar sense of adventure, making her the perfect partner for the intrepid detective. Trottie also knows Gabriel is gay, and is only too willing to help him find his place in a society where homosexuality is illegal by being his wife. Their unconventional marriage is a happy one.

Gabriel, Trottie and their inner circle – including ex-convict Jack (Connor Finch) and aspiring crime novelist Nora (Buket Kömür) – have some deliciously knotty crimes to solve, starting with a chemist found dead after an apparent poisoning. Was it suicide or murder? And is it linked to the discovery of a bomb crater nearby filled with skeletons?

There’s always another shocking death lurking around the corner in Bookish, along with stylish 1940s locations and guest stars including Daniel Mays, Joely Richardson and Paul McGann.

“The post-war setting is one of my favourite periods and it’s rarely done,” Gatiss says. “Winning the peace, as it were, after all those years of war. It was austerity Britain, yes, but it was also the most radical government we ever had. People’s lives had been turned upside down. Incredible women who had won the war on the Home Front, taking men’s jobs, were then told to get back behind the stove. The streets were awash with guns from looted German corpses. As a setting it’s just bursting with fascinating stuff.”

And if you like the sound of it, we’ve some good news for you – it’s already been commissioned for a second series! Scroll down to find out more about the charming characters populating this absorbing new show.

Click on the images below to find out who’s who.

Proprietor of Book’s bookshop, possessor of a phenomenal memory and consultant detective to the local police and, occasionally, the intelligence services. Fastidious and cerebral, he’s normally charming but can be blunt, and he’s hiding the pain of a lost love.

Where do I know Mark Gatiss from? The League Of Gentleman, Sherlock, Moonflower Murders and Doctor Who (he wrote nine episodes and guest-starred in five).

What else? “A big part of it from the beginning was him being a gay man in a very unfriendly world,” Gatiss says. “Most so-called ‘lavender’ marriages were between a gay man and a lesbian but not here. It’s inspired by those intense, passionate friendships that you read about a lot. They are devoted to each other for years, they drift apart and then come back together, which is quite a pattern in people’s lives.”

Trottie owns and runs the wallpaper shop next door to Book’s. She’s glamorous, warm-hearted and loyal – and full of surprises, such as the fact she fought in the Spanish Civil War.

Where do I know Polly Walker from? Bridgerton, Rome, Pennyworth and as dodgy lawyer Gill Biggeloe in Line Of Duty.

What else? “She is such a good egg without being sickly sweet… Strangely it is a very good fit for me,” Walker says. “I said to Mark Gatiss when I saw him, ‘I can’t believe that you’ve seen the goodness in me.’ My family does. My husband does. But generally, in casting I’ve played a lot of baddies.”

Just out of prison, Jack finds his way to Gabriel’s shop, where he’s taken on as an assistant in both bookselling and the detective trade – which he takes to instantly.

Where do I know Connor Finch from? As Street in Dolly Alderton’s TV adaptation of her memoir Everything I Know About Love.

What else? Finch describes Jack as an “orphan [without] anyone to look out for him… He’s a real watcher and a real listener. I find those people interesting. It’s that thing of going, ‘I’ve got this far in life on my own.’ He has no element in him where he feels the need to impress.”

Nora, who was orphaned in the war and works in her uncle’s Turkish restaurant on Archangel Lane, has read just about every crime novel there is and her expertise proves valuable to Book’s detective operation.

Where do I know Buket Kömür from? The 2020 crime thriller series Honour with Keeley Hawes, Signora Volpe and Generation Z.

What else? “I’ve always loved that idea of slightly inappropriately bloodthirsty kids because I was one,” Gatiss says. “Nora is always hanging around the bookshop because it’s where all the fun is. Book treats her like an unofficial assistant. He pretends to disapprove but is secretly thrilled that she’s that keen.”

The affable but overworked inspector worked with Gabriel in intelligence during the war. And unlike some fictional police officers, Bliss has no problem turning to the consultant detective. He’s grateful for Gabriel’s help and glad to keep his crime-solving rate up.

Where do I know Elliot Levey from? Primarily a theatre actor, he’s a two-time Olivier Award winner for Cabaret and this year’s Giant. On TV he’s been in Parade’s End, Quiz and, with Gatiss, Martin’s Close.

What else? “In detective fiction inspectors tend to go two ways: someone behind a desk saying, ‘You’re a maverick!’ – it wears you out when the ‘maverick’ detective is proved right every week – and a sort of grudging respect sometimes tempered by resentment,” says Gatiss. “What we’ve tried with Bliss is somewhere between the two. Elliot is one of my closest friends. I wrote Bliss for him and said I wouldn’t do it without him.”

Bliss’s junior officer has a more… traditional police view of Gabriel and his abilities. He’s not too happy about input from someone he considers an amateur, and he also considers Gabriel’s living situation to be suspect.

Where do I know Blake Harrison from? Lots of TV including World On Fire, I Hate Suzie, Kate & Koji and A Very English Scandal, as well as films like Dad’s Army… but he’s still best known as dopey Neil from The Inbetweeners.

What else? “Sergeant Morris represents the grumpy face of the law,” Gatiss says. “He’s a stickler for the rules. He massively resents the fact this civilian is plodding all over his crime scenes and is sniffing around to see if he can find a way of bringing Book down. He is sort of Book’s nemesis and [in the] second series, he will loom larger.”

Bookish begins on Wednesday 16 July at 8pm on U&Alibi HD (CH 114), starting with a double-bill of episodes 1 and 2. Two more double bills will follow, with the episodes available on demand after broadcast.