Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Mark Gatiss to write and star in Bookish, a brand-new detective drama for Alibi

10/04/2024

UKTVs catalogue of original drama continues to grow, with the commission of six-part series, Bookish (6x70) for its specialist crime drama channel Alibi. The UKTV original series has been created by Emmy Award-winning writer Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock) and is produced by Eagle Eye Drama. As international partner, Beta Film will handle the world sales.

Mark Gatiss writes and stars as the erudite and unconventional Gabriel Book who, from his antiquarian bookshop, helps the police to solve a variety of mysterious crimes. With three main cases in the series, each storyline spans two-episode instalments. The series will air on Alibi in 2025.

Bookish is the strange, funny and thrilling show that Ive always wanted to make

Mark Gatiss said: "To misquote Goodfellas: "All my life Ive wanted to be a detective!" I couldnt be more excited to be bringing this series to the screen, and to plunge viewers into our intoxicating version of post-War London. Its an under-examined time and an under-examined world and Bookish is the strange, funny and thrilling show that Ive always wanted to make."

Starring alongside Mark Gatiss will be Polly Walker (Bridgerton, Line of Duty) who plays Books colourful wife Trottie. Bookish will also feature a wealth of guest stars, including Joely Richardson (The Gentleman, The Ballad of Renegade Nell), Daniel Mays (The Long Shadow, Code 404) and Jonas Nay (Deutschland 83, Concordia). Other returning core cast members include Connor Finch (Everything I Know About Love) as Jack, Olivier award-winner Elliot Levey (We Were the Lucky ones, Quiz) as Inspector Bliss and Buket K m r (Our House) as Nora.

London, 1946 is the dynamic, dangerous and chaotic setting for this stylish new detective drama, with the eccentric Gabriel Book (Gatiss) at the very heart of the story: a self-appointed consultant detective to the local police. The thousands of books that line the shelves of his shop provide him with all the knowledge he needs.

Book has gathered around him a host of lovable, damaged misfits whom he informally protects, cajoles, and mentors. His wife Trottie (Walker) runs the wallpaper shop next door. Shes a charismatic adventuress whom Book loves deeply but not physically, for they are in a lavender marriage to help conceal Books sexual orientation in a time when it was illegal to be gay.

Bookish marries post-war nostalgia with the reckless and life-affirming atmosphere of the times, creating a fast-paced and stylish detective drama.

The UKTV Original series has been commissioned by Helen Perry, head of drama for UKTV, and ordered by Emma Ayech, channel director for Alibi, and Hilary Rosen, director of commissioning. Executive producers for Eagle Eye Drama are Jo McGrath and Walter Iuzzolino. The series is co-written with Matthew Sweet and will be directed by Carolina Giammetta (Suspect S2, Hollington Drive) and produced by Christopher Arcache (Hotel Portofino).

Helen Perry said: "UKTV is the home for writers passion projects, and we are so proud to be working with the exceptionally talented Mark Gatiss on his, along with the effervescent team at Eagle Eye. Marks unique detective thriller is full of wit and heart, with a central platonic love story that is sure to enthral audiences. And because Book is a gay man, at a time when it was illegal to be so, we are proud that the drama shines a light on an important LGBTQ+ story. The star-studded cast Eagle Eye have already put together is tribute to the sure-fire hit Bookish is to become."

Emma Ayech added: "The story and setting of this brand-new drama is perfect for the Alibi audience and Im excited to see how the wonderful cast and crew bring it to life on screen. We have a wealth of UKTV original dramas coming down the track and Im thrilled were adding this fantastic addition into the mix."

Jo McGrath, chief creative officer for Eagle Eye Drama said: "There are some characters, some ideas that just leap off the page and demand to be realised. Book, Trottie and the clever crimes Mark Gatiss has woven around the precinct of Archangel Lane is one of those projects. The answer to every crime can be found in a book and in Bookish, Mark Gatiss has created a unique, memorable and stand out new detective series."

Oliver Bachert, chief distribution officer, Beta Film commented: "With Bookish, we are thrilled to unveil a truly unique and compelling series that blends a classic detective story with the rich tapestry of post-war London, brought to life by the brilliant Mark Gatiss. With its mix of mystery, history, and heartfelt drama, it is another milestone in our successful partnership with Eagle Eye Drama. Bookish is sure to become a great example of a sophisticated crime drama and instant classic for audiences around the world. Were proud to bring this exciting series to the global stage."

The series is being produced in association with Happy Duck Films and is supported by the Belgian Tax Shelter.

Bookish is the latest UKTV Original drama for Alibi. Other recently announced series include I, Jack Wright, written by Chris Lang and starring Nikki Amuka-Bird and John Simm. The Red King, starring Anjli Mohindra, Adjoa Andoh and Marc Warren, will air later this month on Alibi.

For more information, please contact:Kelly Phelps, Publicity Manager, UKTV

Notes for Editors:

About Alibi

Sky 109/826, Virgin 126/200, BT 312/382, TalkTalk 312, TV Player On demand on Sky, Virgin, BT and TalkTalk

Alibi is the only TV channel dedicated to crime drama, investigating the best selection from the genre and premiering hit series from around the world such as CSI: Vegas, So Help Me Todd, Dark Winds and Black Sands.

Alibis offering of UKTV Original crime drama series give viewers guaranteed thrills, twists and turns through hit shows including Annika, starring Nicola Walker, Traces, starring Molly Windsor and Martin Compston a
LINK: https://corporate.uktv.co.uk/news/article/mark-gatiss-write-star-booki...
See more stories from uktv

Most recent headlines

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

19/04/2025

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at...

SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that the company earned multiple awards at the 2025 NAB Show, with two...

19/04/2025

Ateliere Announces CEO Transition

Ateliere Creative Technologies, a leading GenAI media software solutions company, today announced that Dan Goman has stepped down as CEO and David Bortis, Ateli...

19/04/2025

Marshall CV574 Miniature 4K UHD Camera Revolutionizes Off...

As Director of Media and Aerial Production at Terrible Herbst Motorsports, Bryan Moore is setting new standards in off-road racing media coverage thanks to his ...

19/04/2025

Lightware Launches Dual Screen Extended Desktop Taurus

A next-generation collaboration device that redefines connectivity for meeting environments Lightware, an industry-leading manufacturer of signal management so...

19/04/2025

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for N...

Calrec is today announcing that its True Control 2.0 is a Remote Production winner in the 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. This official awards program...

19/04/2025

Appear and NBCUniversal Win Project of the Year at NAB Sh...

Appear, a global leader in live production technology, proudly announces it has been recognised alongside NBCUniversal with the prestigious NAB Show Delivery Pr...

19/04/2025

Deity Microphones Announces The Deity THEOS DIFB at NAB 2...

Deity Microphones, a leader in innovative audio equipment, is proud to announce the expected release of our Ultra-Wide Band IFB to the market. The THEOS DIFB wi...

19/04/2025

LiveU IQ Technology Delivers Breakthrough Network Perform...

A world renowned broadcaster and long-standing LiveU customer has successfully completed a series of live connectivity tests using LiveU's revolutionary, aw...

19/04/2025

BitFire Wins 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year and Produc...

BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced dual NAB Show award wins at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The company's M...

19/04/2025

BitFire Wins Three Top Awards at 2025 NAB Show

BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced three major award wins at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas. The compa...

19/04/2025

Moments Lab and Satisfaction Group Form Unique Strategic...

AI video discovery company Moments Lab and Satisfaction Group, a leading independent unscripted television production company, are proud to announce a unique st...

19/04/2025

The Infrastructure of Creative Flow DigitalGlues creative...

As the media industry navigates the triple challenge of AI-driven production, distributed teams, and skyrocketing content demand, DigitalGlue s creative.space h...

19/04/2025

Miri Technologies Wins Two Prestigious Awards for X510 Bo...

Network technology startup Miri Technologies Inc. capped off its tremendously successful NAB Show debut by winning two prestigious industry awards for its cutti...

19/04/2025

Tablo Adds 45 New FAST Channels From Warner Bros. Discovery

CINCINNATI Scripp's Nuvyyo USA has concluded a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring 45 FAST channels to Nuvyyo's Tablo TV device....

19/04/2025

Court Overrules FCC's $57 Million Fine Against AT&T

In a ruling that could have broader implications on the legality of regulatory agencies levying fines through administrative proceedings, the 5th U.S. Circuit C...

19/04/2025

FCC Chair Carr Blasts Comcast Over MSNBC Coverage

WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has blasted Comcast over MSNBC's coverage of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in a so...

19/04/2025

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC This season features faculty member Arun Pandian as the new host and interviews ...

18/04/2025

Everyone Is Cordially Invited to Celebrate Queer Joy in The Wedding Banquet

Director Andrew Ahn, alongside actors Youn Yuh-jung and Joan Chen, takes a photo of the audience after the premiere of his film The Wedding Banquet at Eccles ...

18/04/2025

U.S. Judge Rules Google Illegally Monopolized Ad Technologies

In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...

18/04/2025

TV News Outlets See March Spike in Social Media Usage

Broadcast and cable TV news outlets saw strong social media growth in March, according to new data from the social video analytics company Tubular Labs ....

18/04/2025

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The drummer secured a spot among the elite winners in this years competition. By Maddie...

18/04/2025

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway The Latin American immigrant community takes center stage in a new musical featuring Tatian...

18/04/2025

UPDATED: Broadcasters Urge FCC to Hit the Delete Button on Antiquated Regs

WASHINGTON The FCC's call for public comments and suggestions on outdated regulations that it should be eliminated, has prompted a slew of fillings from bro...

18/04/2025

Federal Judge Rules Google Illegally Monopolized Ad Technologies

In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...

18/04/2025

AMS, VideoAmp Collaborate on Cross-Channel Targeting and Measurement

PEARL RIVER, N.Y. Global media solutions company Active Media Services (AMS) has formed a new relationship with VideoAmp, a measurement company for linear TV, c...

18/04/2025

Netflix Reports Strong Q1 Revenue, Operating Income

Netflix reported generally positive results for first-quarter 2025, with revenue up 13% year-over-year to $10.543 billion and operating income growing by 27% to...

18/04/2025

NHL Playoffs 2025: TNT Sports Hits the Road for Onsite Productions With Mobile Units from NEP Group, Game Creek Video

NHL Playoffs 2025: TNT Sports Hits the Road for Onsite Productions With Mobile U...

18/04/2025

EVS's Sbastien Verlaine on U.S. Expansion, Next-Generation Products

EVSs S bastien Verlaine on U.S. Expansion, Next-Generation Products Beyond replay, offerings also target asset management and media infrastructure By Ken Kersc...

18/04/2025

ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC

ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC Men's championships to follow Saturday night on ESPN2 By Brandon Costa, Direct...

18/04/2025

Visualizing Victory: The Latest in AR, XR, and Virtual Production in Live Sports

Visualizing Victory: The Latest in AR, XR, and Virtual Production in Live Sports This panel discussion featured leaders from ESPN, CBS Sports, Warner Bros. Disc...

18/04/2025

NHL Playoffs 2025: With 16 Games in First Six Days, ESPN Deploys Variety of Remote-Production Models in U.S., Canada

NHL Playoffs 2025: With 16 Games in First Six Days, ESPN Deploys Variety of Remo...

17/04/2025

The Ugly Stepsister: A Cinderella Body Horror Story That Will Leave a Crowd in Shambles

Emilie Blichfeldt attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of The Ugly ...

17/04/2025

Why Resilient GPS (R-GPS) Matters for US Military Superiority: We Must Address GPS Vulnerabilities

R-GPS gives warfighters a decisive battlefield advantage by punching through adv...

17/04/2025

What NAB told us about the future of media tech

This year's NAB Show in Las Vegas marked a noticeable shift in the priorities of media and broadcast organisations. Gone are the days of chasing flashy, or ...

17/04/2025

Changing Sustainable Production in Wales and Beyond

class=attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail f-align-center alt= decoding=async data-lazy-srcset=https://www.antonbauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Amy-Daniel-1...

17/04/2025

Roku to Collaborate with Adobe on Real-Time Customer Data

SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku and Adobe have announced that they are collaborating on a real time data platform made possible by a a new integration of the Roku Data C...

17/04/2025

IAB: Digital Ad Revenue Surges 14.9% YoY to $259 Billion in 2024

NEW YORK Internet advertising revenues demonstrated strong growth in 2024, increasing 14.9% year-over-year to $258.6 billion, according to the IAB Internet Adv...

17/04/2025

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at 2025 NAB Show

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at 2025 NAB Show Brie Clayton April 17, 2025 0 Comments Left to right, Geoff Stedman, CMO, SDVI...

17/04/2025

Singapore Polytechnic Readies Aspiring AV Professionals for Live IP Productions with AJA

Singapore Polytechnic Readies Aspiring AV Professionals for Live IP Productions ...

17/04/2025

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for True Control 2.0

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for True Control 2.0 Brie Clayton April 17, 2025 0 Comments Image: The Calrec True Control 2.o on ...

17/04/2025

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward From mood boards to live demos, the alumni band gave students an exclusive look at the process behin...

17/04/2025

MyFree DirecTV Adds 8 NBCU Channels

DirecTV's free streaming service MyFree DirecTV has just added another eight channels from NBCUniversal....

17/04/2025

GameChanger Launches in the U.S.

LOS ANGELES The virtual production company GameChanger has announced that it is expanding its global footprint by bringing its virtual production technology to ...

17/04/2025

IBCAP Launches Automated VOD Monitoring and Takedown System

DENVER The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has announced that it has developed a proprietary, automated software-based system to iden...

17/04/2025

Pixalate: Roku Continues to Dominate U.S. CTV Device Market

Pixalate's new CTV Device Market Share report for Q1 2025 shows that Roku has the highest open programmatic CTV device market share in the United States, wi...

17/04/2025

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Lewis has more than 20 years of industry experience, leading fundraising initiati...

17/04/2025

The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville

The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville The location in Music City is intended to broaden the sport's appeal By Dan Daley, ...

17/04/2025

Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces TV and NOW Lineup

April 17th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces TV & NOW Lineup World Premieres and Exclusive Cast Panels with Apple TV '...

17/04/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Cisco's Bryan Bedford on Providing End-to-End Support for Clients, How Industry Trends Impact Workflows

SVG Sit-Down: Cisco's Bryan Bedford on Providing End-to-End Support for Clie...