BOOKISH: FURTHER CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR UKTV DRAMA FROM MARK GATISS

Further casting is now confirmed for Bookish (6x70’), a brand-new drama created by Emmy Award-winning writer Mark Gatiss, for UKTV’s specialist crime drama channel Alibi. The series is produced by Eagle Eye Drama and filming is now underway in Belgium. As international partner, Beta Film is handling the world sales.

Blake Harrison (Still Up, World on Fire) joins the returning core cast members as Sergeant Morris, with Rosie Cavaliero (The Power of Parker, Funny Woman), Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (Bodies, The Great), Tom Forbes (Champion, Rules of the Game), Amanda Drew (The Gold, Wolf).

Plus Luke Norris (Poldark, The Girl Before), Ella Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife, Passenger) and Michael Workéyè (Playdate, This is Going to Hurt) confirmed to guest star.

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.

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 (Polly Walker) runs the wallpaper shop next door. She's a charismatic adventuress whom Book loves deeply but not physically, for they are in a ‘lavender’ marriage to help conceal Book’s 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.