‘Read books, don't burn them': Sherlock co-creator looks to the past in new show
Mark Gatiss, who has adapted Conan Doyle in Sherlock, Agatha Christie in Poirot and now writes and stars in his own series, Bookish, knows the saying well — and quotes it approvingly. He is more than happy to admit that Bookish, his new period detective drama set in London, 1946, about a secondhand bookstore owner called Gabriel Book who doubles as an amateur sleuth, will ring many bells.
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' Bookish is a synthesis of all my favourite things,' he says, speaking in London. 'There are a lot of laughs, a lot of melancholy, a lot of black comedy and a lot of horror. The tone was very important to me; it's sort of The Lady Vanishes, Green for Danger and Peter Ustinov in [Agatha Christie's] Evil Under the Sun. I mean I watch that film about five times a year, maybe more because it's just such a great confection, you know: wonderful actors, a brilliant murder mystery, and they're all having a great time.'
The six-part series (a second has already been commissioned) sees Gatiss star as Gabriel Book, owner of a bookshop in the fictional Archangel Lane. Book carries with him at all times a mysterious 'letter from Churchill', that grants him access to crime scenes to help the police solve murders. He comes with several further mysteries of his own that run through the series — for one there's his marriage to his childhood best friend, the ever-practical Trottie (Polly Walker, Bridgerton). (It's mysterious because Book is a gay man living at a time when homosexuality was illegal.)
For another, there's Book and Trottie taking in young Jack Blunt (Connor Finch) after his release from prison. It seems like good people giving a second chance to a young man who's gone down the wrong path, but as Jack helps out both at the bookshop and on the murder cases, it soon becomes clear that his job offer wasn't quite as random as it first appeared.
Add to these overarching mysteries the three two-part stories — the poisoning of the local chemist; the poisoning of a film extra when Lovelorn in London is shot on Archangel Lane; and yes, the poisoning of an army captain at the August Walsingham Hotel (there is a lot of poisoning in Bookish) — and you have a knotty, stylish and witty period piece.
Bookish sits squarely within the current vogue for Agatha Christie and cheery murder-mysteries but while it is terrific fun what it isn't is frothy or glib. Gatiss recognises that quirky detectives and the puzzles they solve offer the viewer escapism, but it's an escapism that we need because, as he says, 'The world situation right now is so frightening.'
It's precisely because Gatiss knows the detective genre inside out that he is able to use the diversion of a TV show as something of a Trojan horse to make his point. Book, for example is a gay man who society forces to hide in a lavender marriage.
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'I wanted to show to people who don't really know what it was like that we're standing on the shoulders of giants: we've come such a long way [with LGBTQ+ rights] but also how fragile it is. Because it's happening again. Sometimes I slightly despair of the rarefied arguments we have when, not very far from here, people have been put in camps or murdered for being gay. [Progress] can all be undone in a minute. Just look at Trump.'
As a prolific star and writer of cult comedy The League of Gentleman and then Sherlock, episodes of Poirot and countless TV ghost stories in homage to his hero M.R. James, Gatiss recognises that his first responsibility is to entertain.
'I don't want to be didactic,' he says. 'It's entertainment and the murder mystery is a hugely important part of it. That's what people come for. But I think you can do stuff while you're there. That's what I was trying to do at least.'
'The central thing is: read books, don't burn them.'
Gabriel Book is unusual in the detective canon in that he is a super-sleuth without a superpower. He doesn't really have a 'thing' like Holmes's powers of deduction or Poirot's whirring little grey cells. He has merely read a lot and spends all his days in a capacious bookshop that Gatiss describes as 'an analogue computer'. Book has no need to consult Google or ChatGPT, even if they existed — all knowledge is there in those fusty pages, but he does have to look it up.
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'I didn't want him to be a know-it-all,' says Gatiss. 'I don't like that. When Steven Moffat and I wrote Sherlock, by going back to the [Conan Doyle] books we were able to demonstrate that one of the things people had forgotten about Sherlock Holmes was that he was spectacularly ignorant about things that didn't interest him. As a child, I found that thrilling.'
As such, Book is full of flaws, both gaps in his knowledge and in his own make-up.
'Part of Book is directly inspired by Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, one of the great detectives: everyone thinks he's a bit of a silly arse, but we know that he has PTSD. He screams in the night at flashbacks from the trenches. I love that, and I thought Book should have a very light-hearted view of the world precisely because he's seen some really terrible things.'
Book also has a team of people around him who do the things he's not so good at. Trottie is practical; Nora (Buket Kömür), the waitress at the restaurant from over the road, happens to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of crime fiction and gruesome real-life cases; Jack, the jailbird, turns out to be a willing and capable apprentice, a Watson to Book's Holmes.
And the period itself is not just there for ambience. In 1946 a murderer, Bookish reminds us, would face the death penalty. The shadow of the noose always dangles in the background, even as our team gad about and correct one another's grammar.
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'It's a different flavour if you feel someone's going to just get eight months as opposed to dangling from a noose at the end,' says Gatiss.
As a whole then, you have a detective drama that has in many ways been done before, as Sherlock Holmes put it, but also, being a Gatiss script, knows exactly where it has come from.
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The Advertiser
3 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Eric Bana leads picturesque murder mystery Untamed
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Fans of the show either go hard for Bonrad (the coupling of Belly and Conrad) or Jelly (the coupling of Jeremiah and Belly), and whichever team you're on, you're going to be feeling upset by the first couple of episodes of the season. The Fisher boys are always making mistakes and failing to communicate properly, and it seems three more years of development have not cured these issues. While the central pairing might have fans divided, everyone can agree that Taylor and Steven make for a great couple to cheer on, and their journey this season is especially engaging. TSITP's trademark use of moody pop songs continues, with the show pulling out a devastating Taylor Swift number nice and early. Episodes drop weekly, so we'll all have to be patient to find out just how this one plays out - and the creators have warned that the show will not necessarily stay true to the original novels. If you're a fan of the BBC Sherlock series, then this new one from Mycroft himself, Mark Gatiss, is sure to be your cup of English breakfast. Set in post-war 1946, Bookish follows Gabriel Book, a bookshop owner and part-time consulting detective (with a letter from Churchill) who takes on a new apprentice of sorts in recently released prisoner Jack (Connor Finch). Despite some gruesome deaths and a general air of murder and misdeeds, this is a cosy and very British series that will be a massive hit with the right audience. It'll be too twee for some, but the clever writing and overall pleasant atmosphere will be a real winner for others. It features a raft of faces familiar to viewers of British telly, including Polly Walker (Bridgerton), Daniel Mays (White Lines), Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Queen's Gambit), Joely Richardson (Renegade Nell) and more. There's six episodes all up, covering three two-part mysteries. Looking for some salacious and risque drama? Look no further than Hunting Wives. The series has a smashing cast including protagonist Brittany Snow, Malin Akerman, Dermot Mulroney, Katie Lowes and Jaime Ray Newman, and follows a Boston woman who moves to Texas for her husband's work and finds herself drawn into a new crowd of gun-toting, brash women with a complex interpersonal ecosystem. There's also lots of country music, sex and line dancing. Catch the full season on Stan. The salaciousness continues on Binge with a new season of The Couple Next Door: Deadly Attraction. It's all new characters this time. Trekkies can rejoice with the season three return of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+. There's also plenty of documentary action on offer this week. Netflix has true crime docuseries Amy Bradley is Missing, as well as feature film Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan, while HBO Max has two-parter Billy Joel: And So It Goes about the life and career of the legendary singer-songwriter. Stunning lakes, breathtaking mountains and luscious forests are the star of the show in Netflix's mystery thriller Untamed. The six-episode limited series is set within the sprawling Yosemite National Park in northern California and follows the investigation into the death of a young woman. Leading the investigation is Eric Bana's Kyle Turner, a surly, grouchy veteran detective who is still struggling with a personal tragedy and the ensuing breakdown of his marriage. He prefers to work alone, but his buddy Paul Souter (Sam Neill), the chief Park Ranger at Yosemite, insists upon rookie ranger Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) tagging along and helping out. Watching Turner and Vasquez's partnership develop is probably the strongest and most satisfying part of the series. The opening sequence of the series is the perfect way to draw in viewers - it's high-octane, tense and shocking. It's also reminiscent of 2000 adventure hit Vertical Limit. While the series is not exactly prestige TV - the writing is a little obvious and the characterisations are simple - Untamed's short episode count and beautiful location shots make for an enjoyable weekend binge. Bana is engaging in the lead, and Santiago in particular provides great support. Daredevil actor Wilson Bethel also delivers a strong performance, as does Rosemary DeWitt as Turner's ex-wife, Jill. After what feels like an eternity, we are finally back with YA TV's best love triangle - Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad. This third and final season kicks off shortly the summer following the events of season two, but quickly jumps forward three years. Belly is now in her final year of college, Jeremiah (who is still her boyfriend) is just about to finish up his college career, and Conrad is off being a med student. The series immediately brings you back to the bright, dramatic vibes it crafted so well in its first two seasons. Fans of the show either go hard for Bonrad (the coupling of Belly and Conrad) or Jelly (the coupling of Jeremiah and Belly), and whichever team you're on, you're going to be feeling upset by the first couple of episodes of the season. The Fisher boys are always making mistakes and failing to communicate properly, and it seems three more years of development have not cured these issues. While the central pairing might have fans divided, everyone can agree that Taylor and Steven make for a great couple to cheer on, and their journey this season is especially engaging. TSITP's trademark use of moody pop songs continues, with the show pulling out a devastating Taylor Swift number nice and early. Episodes drop weekly, so we'll all have to be patient to find out just how this one plays out - and the creators have warned that the show will not necessarily stay true to the original novels. If you're a fan of the BBC Sherlock series, then this new one from Mycroft himself, Mark Gatiss, is sure to be your cup of English breakfast. Set in post-war 1946, Bookish follows Gabriel Book, a bookshop owner and part-time consulting detective (with a letter from Churchill) who takes on a new apprentice of sorts in recently released prisoner Jack (Connor Finch). Despite some gruesome deaths and a general air of murder and misdeeds, this is a cosy and very British series that will be a massive hit with the right audience. It'll be too twee for some, but the clever writing and overall pleasant atmosphere will be a real winner for others. It features a raft of faces familiar to viewers of British telly, including Polly Walker (Bridgerton), Daniel Mays (White Lines), Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Queen's Gambit), Joely Richardson (Renegade Nell) and more. There's six episodes all up, covering three two-part mysteries. Looking for some salacious and risque drama? Look no further than Hunting Wives. The series has a smashing cast including protagonist Brittany Snow, Malin Akerman, Dermot Mulroney, Katie Lowes and Jaime Ray Newman, and follows a Boston woman who moves to Texas for her husband's work and finds herself drawn into a new crowd of gun-toting, brash women with a complex interpersonal ecosystem. There's also lots of country music, sex and line dancing. Catch the full season on Stan. The salaciousness continues on Binge with a new season of The Couple Next Door: Deadly Attraction. It's all new characters this time. Trekkies can rejoice with the season three return of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+. There's also plenty of documentary action on offer this week. Netflix has true crime docuseries Amy Bradley is Missing, as well as feature film Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan, while HBO Max has two-parter Billy Joel: And So It Goes about the life and career of the legendary singer-songwriter. Stunning lakes, breathtaking mountains and luscious forests are the star of the show in Netflix's mystery thriller Untamed. The six-episode limited series is set within the sprawling Yosemite National Park in northern California and follows the investigation into the death of a young woman. Leading the investigation is Eric Bana's Kyle Turner, a surly, grouchy veteran detective who is still struggling with a personal tragedy and the ensuing breakdown of his marriage. He prefers to work alone, but his buddy Paul Souter (Sam Neill), the chief Park Ranger at Yosemite, insists upon rookie ranger Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) tagging along and helping out. Watching Turner and Vasquez's partnership develop is probably the strongest and most satisfying part of the series. The opening sequence of the series is the perfect way to draw in viewers - it's high-octane, tense and shocking. It's also reminiscent of 2000 adventure hit Vertical Limit. While the series is not exactly prestige TV - the writing is a little obvious and the characterisations are simple - Untamed's short episode count and beautiful location shots make for an enjoyable weekend binge. Bana is engaging in the lead, and Santiago in particular provides great support. Daredevil actor Wilson Bethel also delivers a strong performance, as does Rosemary DeWitt as Turner's ex-wife, Jill. After what feels like an eternity, we are finally back with YA TV's best love triangle - Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad. This third and final season kicks off shortly the summer following the events of season two, but quickly jumps forward three years. Belly is now in her final year of college, Jeremiah (who is still her boyfriend) is just about to finish up his college career, and Conrad is off being a med student. The series immediately brings you back to the bright, dramatic vibes it crafted so well in its first two seasons. Fans of the show either go hard for Bonrad (the coupling of Belly and Conrad) or Jelly (the coupling of Jeremiah and Belly), and whichever team you're on, you're going to be feeling upset by the first couple of episodes of the season. The Fisher boys are always making mistakes and failing to communicate properly, and it seems three more years of development have not cured these issues. While the central pairing might have fans divided, everyone can agree that Taylor and Steven make for a great couple to cheer on, and their journey this season is especially engaging. TSITP's trademark use of moody pop songs continues, with the show pulling out a devastating Taylor Swift number nice and early. Episodes drop weekly, so we'll all have to be patient to find out just how this one plays out - and the creators have warned that the show will not necessarily stay true to the original novels. If you're a fan of the BBC Sherlock series, then this new one from Mycroft himself, Mark Gatiss, is sure to be your cup of English breakfast. Set in post-war 1946, Bookish follows Gabriel Book, a bookshop owner and part-time consulting detective (with a letter from Churchill) who takes on a new apprentice of sorts in recently released prisoner Jack (Connor Finch). Despite some gruesome deaths and a general air of murder and misdeeds, this is a cosy and very British series that will be a massive hit with the right audience. It'll be too twee for some, but the clever writing and overall pleasant atmosphere will be a real winner for others. It features a raft of faces familiar to viewers of British telly, including Polly Walker (Bridgerton), Daniel Mays (White Lines), Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Queen's Gambit), Joely Richardson (Renegade Nell) and more. There's six episodes all up, covering three two-part mysteries. Looking for some salacious and risque drama? Look no further than Hunting Wives. The series has a smashing cast including protagonist Brittany Snow, Malin Akerman, Dermot Mulroney, Katie Lowes and Jaime Ray Newman, and follows a Boston woman who moves to Texas for her husband's work and finds herself drawn into a new crowd of gun-toting, brash women with a complex interpersonal ecosystem. There's also lots of country music, sex and line dancing. Catch the full season on Stan. The salaciousness continues on Binge with a new season of The Couple Next Door: Deadly Attraction. It's all new characters this time. Trekkies can rejoice with the season three return of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+. There's also plenty of documentary action on offer this week. Netflix has true crime docuseries Amy Bradley is Missing, as well as feature film Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan, while HBO Max has two-parter Billy Joel: And So It Goes about the life and career of the legendary singer-songwriter.

Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Bookish review: Mark Gatiss is brilliant in this series - just don't call it cosy crime
Many a fictional detective has an extracurricular talent that feeds into their work; Sherlock Holmes and his violin; Inspector Morse and his crossword skills; Columbo's fluency in several languages. In Mark Gatiss' new crime series Bookish, the co-creator and co-writer of Sherlock stars as Gabriel Book, for whom the detective work is the extracurricular talent. Mark Gatiss as the eccentric Gabriel Bookl in Bookish. Credit: © Toon Aerts Book is an eccentric antiquarian bookshop owner who is also adept at solving mysteries. He draws on his encyclopaedic literary knowledge to help figure out motives, methods and the psychology behind all manner of crimes. Book regularly helps out the local police, led by the affable Inspector Bliss (Elliot Levey), and if anybody queries his involvement, he tells them he 'has a letter from Churchill'. (A bit like Doctor Who's psychic paper, the mere mention of it seems to satisfy anybody who asks). Bookish is set in London in 1946, a less common setting for period drama; Gatiss, a long-time detective fan (as well as Sherlock he has adapted several of Agatha Christie's Poirot stories for British TV, and starred in the series Marple), has said it's a favourite time period of his, given the state of the world: women suddenly empowered (although expected to return to their kitchens), lots of weapons brought back by soldiers, a radical government, and a sense of hope. But no shortage of criminal activity. Gatiss with his 'wife' Trottie (Polly Walker). Credit: Max We first meet Book when a young man, Jack (Connor Finch), freshly released from prison, shows up for a job he's been given at the bookshop. Jack moves in with Book and his wife Trottie (Bridgerton's Polly Walker), who runs a specialty wallpaper shop next door to the bookshop. Gabriel and Trottie seem very much in love – but they have a secret: theirs is a 'lavender marriage', the term given to a marriage where one or both parties are gay, when such a thing is illegal. The pair have long been best friends, having met as children, and Trottie is aware of Book's 'proclivities', which must be kept secret. Especially from the police he spends so much time with. Jack is initially daunted by both Book and his books (all of which are 'catalogued' in a manner as oddball as the man himself), and understandably baffled that the local coppers defer to Book on criminal matters. But he soon comes around – and learns that he hasn't been taken in by the couple by coincidence.

Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Mark Gatiss is brilliant in this series – just don't call it cosy crime
Bookish ★★★★ Many a fictional detective has an extracurricular talent that feeds into their work; Sherlock Holmes and his violin; Inspector Morse and his crossword skills; Columbo's fluency in several languages. In Mark Gatiss' new crime series Bookish, the co-creator and co-writer of Sherlock stars as Gabriel Book, for whom the detective work is the extracurricular talent. Book is an eccentric antiquarian bookshop owner who is also adept at solving mysteries. He draws on his encyclopaedic literary knowledge to help figure out motives, methods and the psychology behind all manner of crimes. Book regularly helps out the local police, led by the affable Inspector Bliss (Elliot Levey), and if anybody queries his involvement, he tells them he 'has a letter from Churchill'. (A bit like Doctor Who's psychic paper, the mere mention of it seems to satisfy anybody who asks). Bookish is set in London in 1946, a less common setting for period drama; Gatiss, a long-time detective fan (as well as Sherlock he has adapted several of Agatha Christie's Poirot stories for British TV, and starred in the series Marple), has said it's a favourite time period of his, given the state of the world: women suddenly empowered (although expected to return to their kitchens), lots of weapons brought back by soldiers, a radical government, and a sense of hope. But no shortage of criminal activity. We first meet Book when a young man, Jack (Connor Finch), freshly released from prison, shows up for a job he's been given at the bookshop. Jack moves in with Book and his wife Trottie (Bridgerton 's Polly Walker), who runs a specialty wallpaper shop next door to the bookshop. Gabriel and Trottie seem very much in love – but they have a secret: theirs is a 'lavender marriage', the term given to a marriage where one or both parties are gay, when such a thing is illegal. The pair have long been best friends, having met as children, and Trottie is aware of Book's 'proclivities', which must be kept secret. Especially from the police he spends so much time with. Jack is initially daunted by both Book and his books (all of which are 'catalogued' in a manner as oddball as the man himself), and understandably baffled that the local coppers defer to Book on criminal matters. But he soon comes around – and learns that he hasn't been taken in by the couple by coincidence.