Mark Gatiss, co-creator of Sherlock, has revealed the physical toll of playing a post-war detective in the returning hit series Bookish, saying his knees were "going off like pistol shots" after attempting to make his character "madly athletic".
The 59-year-old actor and co-writer Matthew Sweet, 56, spoke about crafting twisty murder plots and the challenges of filming the second series, which launches on Wednesday 26 August on UKTV's U&Alibi channel.
Post-war setting and character
Set in 1946, the detective series is centred on Book's bookshop on Archangel Lane in London's West End. Creator Mark Gatiss described the era as "austerity with technicolour," where surrounding streets have been reduced to rubble and people are queuing for food, juxtaposed with intense political optimism under Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
Gatiss plays bookseller, amateur detective and police consultant Gabriel Book, who uses his vast literary knowledge to solve murders. Book is also hiding his homosexuality — at a time when it is still illegal — behind his marriage to childhood best friend Trottie, played by Polly Walker.
A hit in the UK, the US and Australia, and played in more than 100 territories, UKTV has already commissioned Bookish season 3 and a two-part festive special.
Writing process and murder plots
Gatiss and Sweet, an author, broadcaster and expert in Victorian popular culture, write the scripts together. Discussing an episode involving a rabid film fan and a toxic box of chocolates, Sweet said: "We're going to kill Barbara today. She is an obsessed film fan, who has purloined some chocolates sent to Stuart Howard, her matinee idol, but they've been injected with strychnine. Little does she know."
Gatiss added: "I'm so looking forward to the convulsions. What will help the narrative here? What aspect, what symptom will serve the story to make all this make sense? Twitches and a feeling of euphoria as well."
The chocolates were not initially the murder weapon. Sweet said: "The chocolates were sandwiches." Gatiss added: "That's right. They were film set catering sandwiches."
Physical demands and character development
Gatiss described the physical challenges of the role: "I discovered the other day, because of my attempts to make Book as madly athletic as possible, having knelt down behind the counter, I couldn't get up! With my knees going off like pistol shots, it was quite scary."
Sweet added: "Yes, it's very easy to write 'he leaps up the stairs in a single bound.'" Gatiss said: "I'm happy to do it. I just need to warm up now in a way I didn't used to."
The writers have been careful not to give Book superhuman powers. Sweet said: "One of the things that I think we're always very careful about is that Book doesn't have superhuman knowledge. He isn't Doctor Who. He isn't even Sherlock Holmes, who will suddenly reveal that they have this conveniently useful expertise they've never mentioned before. He does his homework. He doesn't just know it all anyway."
Gatiss added: "I think that's vital. We did the same with Sherlock in the sense of... de-Supermanning him. But, even more so with Book, it's not interesting if he knows it all. What is helpful is that something rings a bell."
Guest stars and future
A who's who of stars, including Miranda Richardson, Simon Callow and Rupert Graves, will appear in season 2. Gatiss, who also played Tyco Nestoris in Game of Thrones, revealed he was approached "a long time ago" about writing a detective series but drew a blank until teaming up with Sweet.
Speaking about the post-war setting, Gatiss said: "I sort of fell strangely in love with that period. The optimism and disenchantment … it's an odd mixture. People could, as they do in the show, reinvent themselves. I thought that would be a very rich setting for the central character to be a gay man in a dangerous world."
