Mark Gatiss’s ‘Bookish’ is being hailed as the ”next best thing to Sherlock” — Here’s why viewers are hooked.
By Pooja Pillai
Set in 1946 London, the U&Alibi series blends cosy crime, period mystery, and LGBTQ+ themes in a smartly crafted whodunit.
Highlights:
- Mark Gatiss stars as Gabriel Book, a crime-solving bookshop owner in post-war London in Bookish.
- The detective drama premiered on U&Alibi on 16 July 2025, with two episodes airing weekly.
- Critics praise the series for its smart plotting, rich period detail, and modern queer representation.
- A second season has already been confirmed, with filming set to begin this summer.
Mark Gatiss, best known for co-creating Sherlock, is back with another brainy sleuth, and this time, it’s personal. Bookish, a 1940s-set detective drama written by and starring Gatiss, follows the eccentric Gabriel Book, a former intelligence agent turned antiquarian bookseller who helps the police crack cases in bombed-out postwar London. The six-part series, which debuted this week on U&Alibi, has already garnered praise for its clever plots, layered characters, and strong sense of time and place, with some calling it “the next best thing to Sherlock.”
