'Bookish' Adds a Dozen Guest Stars for Season 2

PBS first announced it would pick up the Mark Gatiss-penned series Bookish in February 2025, a few months ahead of the show's summer-slated premiere in the U.K. At the time, the show was declared as coming sometime in "the 2025-2026 TV season, and scuttlebutt suggested it would fall in the earlier part of that range (i.e., the autumn of 2025) rather than later. However, that was back before rescission and the resulting sudden, drastic budget tightening for public broadcasting. As autumn rolls in, the PBS lineup for the latter half of 2025 has been set, and, sadly, Bookish is not listed among the premieres, making it much more likely Americans will have to wait until at least January 2026 to see it.

However, the series has not only aired in the U.K., Bookish's first season wound up as one of the most successful debuts for UK TV in the network's history, and a second season was ordered before the season had concluded its inaugural run. Now filming starts in earnest in the U.K., with a dozen brand new guest stars signing on to appear in the series' next set of two-part mysteries and an official synopsis for the new season's overarching throughline.

Gatiss, whose credits Americans know best include his turns starring in/writing Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Game of Thrones, conceived of the series as a post-WWII period mystery with a focus on London's queer history. His character, Gabriel Book, a not-quiet-closeted man in a lavender marriage, owns an antique bookshop. Every other episode, a new crime comes through the door, and Book is called upon to help the police solve the case with his extensive knowledge and the research library of his store.