The first episode Season 2 of Bookish, the detective drama starring Mark Gatiss, features an Easter egg that relates to the first episode of Doctor Who that Gatiss wrote, all the back to 2005.
In Bookish Season 2, Jason Watkins (Nightmare in Silver) plays a character called Harold Sneed — who shares a surname with Gabriel Sneed, played by Alan David in The Unquiet Dead! Presumably, Bookish‘s Sneed doesn’t share a forename as Gatiss’ character is Gabriel Book and you don’t want to confuse things unnecessarily. Watkins’ Sneed is a medium, while The Unquiet Dead saw the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) apparently communicate with the dead.
Gatiss, who writes Bookish alongside starring as its lead, said:
“My first one, with Simon Callow as Charles Dickens, is about mediums; it’s called The Unquiet Dead — I wrote it 20 years ago. Alan David’s character is called Sneed, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m doing it again.’ As Alan Bennett said, ‘We only have a few beans in our tin to rattle,’ so I’ve gone back to it.
“I just love it; I love the whole world of it. And the idea of those people and their fakery, but also all the theatre of that, I just adore — the way that they do these things and still get away with it.”
And here’s the synopsis for the episode, named Memento Mori:
On Archangel Lane, the doors of Book’s Books reopen for a thrilling second series as Gabriel Book (Gatiss) is drawn into his most haunting case yet. When charismatic medium Harold Sneed (Watkins) hosts a mysterious séance, a table full of suspects are suddenly under investigation.
Reuniting with Inspector Bliss (Levey), Book investigates a group of lost souls all searching for connections to the spirit world. Mrs Dredge (Rosie Cavaliero) returns alongside the eccentric Plumchute sisters (Sara Crowe, Amanda Lawrence), Sneed’s watchful assistant Ayesha (Saffron Coomber) and the dashing Colonel Reggie Winters (Rupert Graves).
Meanwhile, Jack (Connor Finch) and Trottie (Walker) devise a plan to investigate the private lives of the suspects. Nora (Buket Kömür) escapes her responsibilities to her uncle Yusuf (Youssef Kerkour), and the bookshop comes under threat as Sergeant Morris (Blake Harrison) begins an investigation of his own.
It’s a fun series, but also dark and contemplative — exactly what you’d expect from Gatiss!
You can catch Bookish on U & Alibi now, with new episodes every Wednesday.
