The Book Group


The Book Group is a British comedy drama that was broadcast on Channel 4 between 2002 and 2003 and ran for two seasons. It was written and directed by the American-born, Glasgow resident Annie Griffin, who also wrote and directed Festival. It was the winner of two BAFTA Scotland awards.
In January 2006, it was announced that screenwriter Andrew Davies would make a feature film adaptation of The Book Group for Film 4, but the project was never started.

Plot

The Book Group revolved around the life of American Clare Pettengill, who, at the start of the series, had recently arrived in Glasgow, Scotland. She starts up a book club to try to find friends with similar interests. Those whom she encounters are not what she expected; her new group consists of a drug-addled, egotistical postgraduate student, an easy-going disabled man who aims to be a writer, three discontented footballers' wives, and a straggler who hides his homosexuality with an obsession for football. All of the members are brought together not so much by the books that they read, but by their own longings for companionship, and their ambitions to better their lives.

Critical reception

Reviewing The Book Group for The Guardian, Gareth McLean stated "the acting is as cracking as the script and the production values" and described the show as "a genuine ensemble drama in which everyone plays a vital part".

Cast

Season one

  1. "On The Road"
  2. "The Alchemist"
  3. "Magical Realism"
  4. "Bedtime Stories"
  5. "Dark Alley"
  6. "A Little More Living"

    Season two

  7. "Sueños"
  8. "Hunger"
  9. "You Must Change Your Life"
  10. "Drowning"
  11. "Research"
  12. "A'salaam Insha'lah"