Mark Gatiss On His Next Chapter: ‘Bookish’ Is Cozy Crime With An Edge

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Gatiss is suitably on-trend with Bookish. He created and stars in the upcoming series as Gabriel Book, an eccentric bookshop owner and expert sleuth who helps the police solve tricky cases.

The show has contained stories – one crime plays out over two episodes –and there are lighthearted elements and something comforting about the cluttered antiquarian bookshop, situated in a picture-perfect historic London lane.

There is pre-launch buzz and international buyers have already started snapping up the series. This is cozy crime, but as the show unfolds, Gatiss’ writing reveals layers and wrinkles that give the series teeth. “It’s become a bit of an instant cliche, ‘cozy crime’, but I don’t think it has to be,” Gatiss tells Deadline. “It can be welcoming, and this has period elements that people love, and they love a world where you can’t solve crimes with computers.

But it’s also a world that’s fractured and dangerous.” Director Carolina Giammetta adds: “It was all there on the page. It was really important for us that we did keep it warm, but also that we did show that edge.” Book has a canine companion called Dog, and the cast of human characters includes Polly Walker (Bridgerton) as Book’s wife Trottie, Connor Finch (Everything I Know About Love) as his assistant, Jack.