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 moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to Glasgow, Scotland. She starts a book club to try find friends with similar interests. Those she encounters are not what she expected; 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 their own longings for companionship, and ambitions to better their lives. Some episodes are titled for the book that is discussed in the group.

Books

In each episode the club have a book that they are supposed to read and discuss.

Season one

  1. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
  2. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
  3. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
  4. The [Little Engine That Could], Watty Piper
  5. A fictional book: 'Dark Alley' by 'Martin Logan'
  6. The [Diving Bell and the Butterfly], Jean-Dominique Bauby

    Season two

  7. Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
  8. Hunger, Knut Hamsun
  9. Collected poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke
  10. Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia, Chris Stewart
  11. The [Sexual Life of Catherine M.], Catherine Millet
  12. The Map of Love, Ahdaf Soueif

    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"