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,^[1] but the project was never started.

Plot

The Book Group revolved around the life of American Clare Pettengill (Anne Dudek), 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 (and subsequently his neurotic and ever-worrying brother), 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 (if they read the book at all), 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".^[2]

Cast

• Anne Dudek as Clare Pettengill
• Rory McCann as Kenny McLeod
• Derek Riddell as Rab
• Michelle Gomez as Janice McCann
• James Lance as Barney Glendenning/Lachlan Glendenning
• Saskia Mulder as Fist de Grooke
• Bonnie Engstrom as Dirka Nilssen
• Gotti Sigurdarson as Lars Nilssen
• Desmond Hamilton as Jackie McCann
• Jack McElhone as Wee Jackie McCann
• Karen Kilgariff as Jean Pettengill (Series 2)
• Kerry McGregor as Carol Ann (Series 2)
• Henry Ian Cusick as Miles Longmuir (Series 2)
• Ben Miller as Martin (Series 1, 2 episodes)

Crew

• Writer: Annie Griffin
• Director: Annie Griffin
• Producers: Anita Overland (series one), Derrin Schlesinger (season two)

Episodes

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

1. "Sueños"
2. "Hunger"
3. "You Must Change Your Life"
4. "Drowning"
5. "Research"
6. "A'salaam Insha'lah"

References

External links

• The Book Group at the Internet Movie Database