The Book Group

The premise is so simple that it would seem likely to be a snowballing success.

The fact that the first episode was such a well structured, delicately written and well acted piece, meant that it appeared there was every possibility it could be a well thought through character study over a six week, or however long, period.

Perhaps I am missing something as I have not read all the books that have so far been discussed by the group, but in any case the first episode was the only one that even touched upon the book at any level.

Since then the programme has descended into the characters outside of the group. More about how they react in other environments and the experience that the book group may have had on them. The episodes appear to have been cut very harshly. There are great wapping gaps, with no explanation.

The stuff about Kenny and Claire and the kiss has been forgotten. Barney and Claire and their immediate chemistry. The female obsession of Kenny's hands.

It has to be said that the acting is very accomplished and it is a pleasure to see new actors proving their worth. Perhaps at the end of the run all of the loose ends will be tied up and it will make sense as a whole?

Even so though it needs to be judged on each episodes merits, and doing that is so hard as each episode is so vastly different in genre and style.

It feels like it should have been a two part series, just like Men Only which is one of the best things Channel 4 has ever shown.

I don't usually start my contributions like that, honest - but it's entirely merited. I've just watched the whole of the first series on DVD and been perhaps even more impressed coming back to it after a long gap. One of the things I love about the programme is that although the books they're reading aren't that important, the book group setting itself *is* crucial to the programme.

There are several laugh-out-loud scenes in the first series, none of them revolving around standard gags or punchlines. One scene gets its laughs from repeated use of the "c" word, which is an extremely hard trick to pull off!

The characters are beautifully drawn, starting with the pivotal figure of Claire, who is at once hugely irritating and sympathetic. All the actors are fine, though I particularly liked the louche and laconic Rab. The minor parts are well done too, for example Ben Miller as the writer, the guys who play Fist's and Dirka's husbands, and the vicar, whom we see in one episode.

One other thing: it's really exquisitely filmed.

I can certainly imagine myself getting more than one viewing out of this DVD (I am intrigued to know what the audio commentary will be like), and will certainly look to get the second series eventually, if nothing else for the interplay between Claire and her sister.

I really like this the first time, and have been staying up late to watch the midnight re-runs on Irish TV.

I always liked this show, because of the (sometimes unbelievable) pretension of some of the characters, and the excellent acting throughout, particularly from Michelle Gomez, who I adore.

And, aside from the stories, and the dialog, and the acting, what had me bouncing up and down in glee was that Dirka and Fist, when alone with their husbands, spoke their native languages. This pleased me no end, as I always find it slightly ridiculous when foreign characters speak English, even when alone.

A lonely American girl living in Scotland advertises a book group in a local shop window to help her meet people. For the first meeting she has a strange mix of people arrive for the discussion. Kenny is a leisure center attendant in a wheelchair, Barney is a pompous English dope fiend, Fist and Dirka are Swedish football wives, Rab is a working class football fan and Janice is a football wife struggling to be seen as smart and as confident as everyone else. As the group gets to know each other better the characters come out more and the books provide only an excuse for the collage of feelings and experiences that are really exposed within the group.

This started it's run in the slot of the brilliant Black Books. Channel 4 were keen to keep the laughing Friday night audience it had captured with Black Books and Fraiser and hence launched The book Group as a comedy similar to that other Book title. However the two have little in common except the word book. The Book Group was initially a disappointment – I spent the first ten minutes trying to laugh too hard, feeling I had to try because it was supposed to be wacky and hilarious. Once I got past this I found it was more comedy based on characters rather than surreal humour.

This has actually made it more rewarding and the comedy is better because it is more liberally scattered rather than the scattergun approach of Black Books. But the real money here is the characters and their stories. We find out more and more about them each week and get more and more involved in their stories. I've just finished watching the first (but hopefully not only) series, but I won't talk too much about the stories as it may spoil it. But the characters get more detailed each week – some in surprising ways! It's a little stretched at times, but most of it works. Yes – the series may drift away from the actual reading of books for some episodes but then the actually discussing of books was never the focus of the programme anyway.

All the cast are great – Dudek (also popping up in ER) is great as Clare – the first episode is an example of how she can play cool on the surface but let things bubble just beneath – and then explode in an emotional overflow. McCann is great as Kenny – able to display his frustartions and hurt (?) at his situation – but more so at the different ways he is treated, as a sex object by some and a object of pity by others. James Lance is great as the least likeable of the characters while Mulder and Engstrom are great as the football wives. Riddell is brave as Rab. Gomez is mixed as Janice – it's hard to tell. At first I thought she was poor because I thought she did a poor show of being confident – then I realised that was the point, then her breakdowns etc and her efforts to show everyone how smart she is come off really well.

Overall it has it's weaknesses – but it has developed over the 6 shows and would be a welcome return for series 2.

Not everybody will like this type of transgressive, subtle comedy rooted in appreciation of character, but those how do will find it one of the funniest things they have ever seen.

The comedy of this show is basically about delusion. Almost all of the people in it are deceiving themselves about who and what they are. They are building castles in the air and refusing to accept their lives. The main character in the show and the butt of most of the humour is Clare, the American girl who starts the book group. Well-intentioned but also vain and naive, she looks down on the other girls for their ignorance and open sexuality, and refuses to admit to herself that her motive in starting the group is basically sex. She believes she has insight into others while in fact she has none, coming from a protected background, romancing her own life and failing completely to understand the earthy Glasgow people. The only character who is not comic is Ken, who is a paraplegic who has had to be realistic about his own life and who is turning his dreams into reality.

This comedy is also very transgressive. In one scene, Lachlan and Clare are having sex while he explains to her where her G-spot is.

But the real butt of the comedy is the audience. It asks us to re-evaluate our own intellectual pretensions and lives. This is why some people react so strongly to it. The humour arises from understanding and compassion. The Book Group is true art because it asks us to examine our own lives.