{"id":252763,"date":"2026-01-26T17:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252763\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:31:13","slug":"hit-40s-set-detective-drama-with-jason-watkins-gets-first-look-at-season-2-and-new-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252763\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit &#8217;40s-set detective drama with Jason Watkins gets first look at season 2 and new cast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Booksish season two has dropped first-look pictures for the new season following the recent wrap on filming.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The Mark Gatiss-fronted period drama, which completed on-set in December 2025, shared a glimpse of what fans can expect from the upcoming season, including a first-look at Jason Watkins in the new guest-star role of Harold Sneed.<\/p>\n<p>Starring alongside Bridgerton star Polly Walker&#8217;s Trottie Book and Connor Finch&#8217;s Jack Blunt, Gatiss stars as bookshop owner Gabriel Book, who becomes embroiled in crime solving in 1946-set London. <\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"bookish season 2\" title=\"Bookish season 2\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3500\" height=\"2334\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/mark-gatiss-booksish-season-2-69774b129abc4.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>UKTV<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"14\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Book is set to delve deeper into the &#8220;strangest of crimes and the knottiest of murders&#8221; (via a press release) for season two as his work aiding the police in their investigations becomes more involved. The synopsis reads: &#8220;In the second series, Book investigates the world of spiritualism when he&#8217;s asked to help solve the mysterious case involving medium Harold Sneed (Watkins). <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"19\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">&#8220;Off Savile Row, Bliss asks Book to help in a puzzling murder at a gentleman&#8217;s outfitters &#8211; the elderly tailor Maxie Kleinmann (Corduner) is keen to confess to the murder, but the evidence doesn&#8217;t quite stack up and points to something much more complex and sinister.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"23\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">It continues: &#8220;Book and Jack are sent to the seemingly charming German village of W\u00fcrl by the mysterious &#8216;E&#8217; (Callow) to thwart a thieving Duchess (Richardson) at Christmas time. However, festivities take a deadly turn when Book and Jack uncover secrets of their own, past and present, in an ominous castle brimming with plausible murder suspects.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"jason watkins, bookish season 2\" title=\"Jason Watkins, Bookish season 2\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3500\" height=\"2334\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jason-watkins-booksish-season-2-69774b134a773.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>UKTV<\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"rupert graves, polly walker, connor finch, bookish season 2\" title=\"Rupert Graves, Polly Walker, Connor Finch, Bookish season 2\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3500\" height=\"2334\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rupert-graves-polly-walker-connor-finch-booksish-season-2-69774b13e4034.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>UKTV<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"29\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The risks are evermore pressing for Book as the synopsis adds: &#8220;Book&#8217;s close association to the police continues to be not without its personal dangers and his lavender marriage with childhood best friend Trottie, is threatened by debonair Colonel Winters (Graves). <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"33\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">&#8220;Marrying post-war nostalgia with the reckless and life affirming atmosphere of the times, Bookish is a stylish period detective drama with a difference.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"ruth codd, bookish season 2\" title=\"Ruth Codd, Bookish season 2\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3500\" height=\"2403\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ruth-codd-booksish-season-2-69774b13bb4c3.jpg\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>UKTV<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"38\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Celebrity Traitors star Ruth Codd is also set to guest star as  India Flynn in the U&amp;alibi series <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DM0CwZks2rD\/?utm_source=ig_embed\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DM0CwZks2rD\/?utm_source=ig_embed\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"expected to air sometime in 2026\" data-node-id=\"38.2\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">expected to air sometime in 2026<\/a>.<br data-node-id=\"38.4\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"42\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">Bookish&#8217;s first season debuted last year to an impressive reception from viewers, averaging views of 1.5million and going on to become U&amp;alibi&#8217;s second highest performing premiere to date. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"46\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">All six episodes of Bookish season one are available to stream via Sky, NOW and Virgin Media. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"50\" class=\"css-18ljdn6 emevuu60\">The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating music icon Dolly Parton, is here! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/special-editions-subscriptions-lvldollyparton\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.hearstmagazines.co.uk\/special-editions-subscriptions-lvldollyparton\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Buy Dolly at 80 in newsagents or online\" data-node-id=\"50.3\" class=\"body-link css-1lh7k7j emevuu60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Buy Dolly at 80 in newsagents or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a38.99.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769448673_839_c9c3b959-10f7-495c-82de-df3d8540e562_1646928593.PNG\" alt=\"Headshot of Janet A Leigh\" title=\"Headshot of Janet A Leigh\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"css-o0wq4v ev8dhu53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. \u00a0For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodhousekeeping.com\/uk\/author\/531576\/janet-a-leigh\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Good Housekeeping institute<\/a> eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. \u00a0She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalspy.com\/tv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Digital Spy<\/a> as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book <a href=\"https:\/\/pegasuspublishers.com\/books\/janet-a-leigh\/gothic-angel\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gothic Angel<\/a>. <br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Booksish season two has dropped first-look pictures for the new season following the recent wrap on filming. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2115,146548,2117,156,2116,111,139,69,146547,437],"class_list":["post-252763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-8f98b394-b640-4911-84a9-dd45f0c2b156","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-locale-gb","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-shorttitle-jason-watkins-hit-detective-drama-gets-first-look-at-s2","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}