Extras: Cast interviews, Text interview with writer/director,
Audio commentary
Director:
Annie Griffin
Producers:
Anita Overland
Screenplay:
Annie Griffin
Music:
Scott Fraser and Robert Hodgens
Cast:
Claire: Anne Dudek
Kenny: Rory McCann
Barney: James Lance
Fist: Saskia Mulder
Rab: Derek Riddell
Janice: Michelle Gomez
Dirka: Bonnie Engstrom
Martin Logan: Ben Miller
Priest: Alex Howden
Lars: Gotti Sigurdarson
Jackie McCann: Des Hamilton
The Book Group started off as a curiosity.
When I saw the first episode for the first time, I really couldn't get into it
and told myself I wasn't going to bother watching further. Then I watched the
next one and before I knew it, I was two-thirds of the way through the series
and completely hooked.
This seemed a bit odd at first as I never read books, but you soon realise
that the function of the book element to the series is largely just a hook
on which to revolve the different elements of the cast together.
The group comes together after answering an advertisment in a local bookshop
placed by Claire (Anne Dudek), an American woman who's upped sticks and
moved to Glasgow, rather like writer/director Annie Griffin. How much
of Claire's life we're about to see, I don't know whether that has any bearing
on Ms Griffin's life, though. Claire has no friends and believes this group is
the way to make some, and we see her on the phone occasionally calling home
to tell her mother what a fantastic time she's having and how popular she is,
when, in truth, nothing could be further from that.
Of the rest of the cast, Kenny (Rory McCann) is a tall man in a
wheelchair, the latter being an element that sets off the usual awkwardness
in most people and this is shown as the characters run the gamut of
personalities. He works in the local leisure centre on reception and races
in his chair. Barney
(I'm Alan Partridge's
James Lance) is a PhD student at the local university, a man Claire
immediately falls in lust with as he enters her flat; and Rab (Derek Riddell)
is a bit of an uncouth layabout. He doesn't have any general direction in life,
but he loves his football.
Then bring on the three footballers' wives, Fist (Saskia Mulder), a Dutch
girl who's studying economics and part-time model, Janice (Michelle Gomez), an
aspiring writer - like many of the rest here - and married to Jackie (Des
Hamilton), the one footballer we see the most of, particularly because of
his friendship with Rab; and finally Dirka (Bonnie Engstrom), from Sweden,
who couldn't be any more cute if she tried. Definitely, this reviewer's
favourite.
The Book Group waits with baited breath for Barney to answer...
Placed in a 9.30pm slot on Channel 4, I was glad it got the recognition it
deserved, but it wasn't the all-out comedy they usually reserve for that
time. There's a lot more to it, and while it can feel like a soap at times,
you really start to get an affinity for the characters and want to know what
makes them tick.
I could go on further and tell you what happens, but that's for you to find
out by watching how the events unfold. It's a class act on behalf of writer/director
Annie Griffin and the entire cast.
If I had a slight gripe with the DVD, it's that when the advert break would come
during the original broadcast, there was a moment, often of subtle comedy,
which would require the freeze-frame on the subject before the adverts came
along. Here, it just cuts to the next scene a bit too quickly.
However, this is nothing compared to my gripe with Channel 4 when they first
showed the series in its 9.30 slot. They'll allow the word "fuck" at that
time, but not the stronger swear, "cunt". As such, they actually bleeped it
out! It would've been less offensive to me, because I hate such censorship,
to have blanked the word, but better still to show it at 10pm and leave it
uncut. The late-night repeats were uncensored though.
Something definitely offensive, which I'll take the opportunity to mention
here, is Channel 4's increasingly arrogant stance on using their bloody red
dot over anything half-worth watching. They brought it in permanently for
Celebrity Big Brother last November, then dropped it after complaints
in early January, before bringing it back a month later. As I write this, the
red dot has been dropped again as of February 15th, but who knows if it will
return. I hope not. It's perfectly possible to make the interactive features
available without the need of a constant onscreen menace and it totally ruins
the programme I'm trying to watch.
Get this, Channel 4. When I'm watching your programmes, I watch them. I have
no interest in pressing red, because that takes me away from said programme.
Also, I watch almost everything having first recorded it on my TiVo, so
pressing red will do absolutely sweet FA! I know advertising revenues are
falling, but this is not the way to increase them as it just infuriates viewers.
Channel 4 have removed all accountability by canning
Right To Reply
and if they continue in this vein, then they may as well pack up and go home.
Having once started as an innovating broadcaster over twenty years ago, they've
become more a laughing stock down to the way they treat their audience and
- I never thought I'd say this - they should take a leaf out of Five's book,
who, upon their rebranding, dropped the constant onscreen logo and overtook
Channel 4 in the respect stakes.
...but no, he doesn't want to have sex with Claire.
The series is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen ratio. Overall,
there's a slightly soft look to the image, but that's the way it's intentionally
shot. It looks just as good as it did on TV, but then it was only shown last
year in the summer, despite Channel 4 having sat on it since the year before.
I have no problems with the sound, too, but it's not a special FX-fest, so
don't expect any more than the usual ambience and background music.
The extras aren't copious - 19 minutes of the cast talking about the series,
the principle of book groups and Annie Griffin, 10 short pages of an online
chat and an audio commentary from the director. The menus are well-made
emulating the look of a book, there are subtitles in English, but a lack of
chapters. I can see that in making the menu look like a book there's a reason
to making it only have six chapters, i.e. one for each of the episodes, but
it doesn't help when trying to skip through an episode if you want to get
to a certain part.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
