Doctor Who star Paul McGann joins Mark Gatiss in Alibi's Bookish
Tim McInnerny and Elizabeth Berrington will also appear in the crime drama.
Paul McGann is set for a major guest role in Bookish, the new crime drama written by and starring Mark Gatiss.
Gatiss will play the "erudite and unconventional" Gabriel Book who, from his antiquarian bookshop, helps the police to solve crimes, with each case split across two episodes of the six-part series.
McGann – best known for playing the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who – will star as Mr Kind in episodes 5 and 6, alongside Tim McInnerny (One Day) as 'D', Elizabeth Berrington (The Responder) as Sylvia Orr, Mark Umbers (Hotel Portofino) as Victor Orr and Angeliki Papoulia (The Lobster) as Princess Ruhije.
They will join Gatiss, Polly Walker (Bridgerton) as Book's wife Trottie, Joely Richardson (The Gentlemen), Daniel Mays (The Long Shadow) and Jonas Nay (Deutschland 83) in the series, which is filming now in Belgium and will air on Alibi in 2025.
Call the Midwife's Ella Bruccoleri and Poldark's Luke Norris are also among the ensemble cast, alongside The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison.
Guest star McGann recently recurred in two seasons of Alibi's detective series Annika opposite Nicola Walker.
Bookish is co-written with Matthew Sweet and will be directed by Carolina Giammetta (Suspect).
The series synopsis reads: "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."
Gatiss said: "I couldn't be more excited to be bringing this series to the screen, and to plunge viewers into our intoxicating version of post-War London. "It's an under-examined time and an under-examined world and Bookish is the strange, funny and thrilling show that I've always wanted to make."
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Read more:
- Sherlock and Doctor Who's Mark Gatiss to lead and pen new detective drama
- Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss: "We'd still like to make a film"
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Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
