Film Four & ‘The Book Group’ Movie, from Channel 4’s Hit Show.

You like your comedy dark? twisted? Then you could really like ‘The Book Group’, Annie Griffin’s hit show which ran for two series between 2001 and 2002. Not in the ‘League of Gentlemen’ category of truly bizarre, this is in parts a short drama with a dominating comedy edge to it, a piece set in so-called real life, that is to say it’s a real world with unreal behaviour and relationships. The premise is that Clarie, an American who has recently moved to Glasgow, decides that starting a Book Group would be a great way to make new friends. Underlying this is a wealth of hidden desires that are also contained within each of the odd characters that join - it appears that many, if not all, of the people are desparately bored, insecure, lonely and looking for a quick and easy fix to their lifes varying problems, and probably it’s a relationship, a misguided solution, and it’s here that all the interchanging desires between the group begin.

It’s a familiar element turned on it’s head a little, usually in sitcoms a group of people are locked into being around one another and can’t escape, so their incompatability causes the situations from which the comedy derives. Here we have a group who have chosen to be around one another and yet have nowhere else to go, or they would rather be in this hell than in some other. Has been some time since it was on, wasn’t short lived because of unpopularity, and if anything this is one of Channel 4’s key shows of this decade - hugely popular and very much a ‘watercooler moment’ show. Annie Griffin has gone on to Write and Direct ‘Festival’ in 2005, a film based at the Edinburgh Festival’s Comedy Fringe, and it was the winner of Best Comedy Film at last years British Comedy Awards.

Now, not in a desire to scrape the barrel, but because more than ever the remaining UK film industry is aware that TV comedy is a breeding ground for good writing, and is increasingly recognised abroad as such, and because it’s comparatively low-budget to produce I suppose, more and more comedy films may come your way from the UK. Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse of ‘The Fast Show’ have shown interest in following the success of a film like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ which turned ‘Spaced’ into a major international export, by making a film possibly based on one or more old characters or something new. Now, Andrew Davies, known for book adaptations, but also the man behind classic original comedy ‘A Very Perculiar Practice’ and 90’s lads comedy ‘Game On’ is penning a film based on Annie Griffin’s ‘Book Group’. Could be superb.

‘The Book Group’ Series 1 on R2 UK DVD at Amazon.co.uk.
‘The Book Group’ Series 2 on R2 UK DVD at Amazon.co.uk.
‘Festival’ by Annie Griffin on R2 UK DVD at Amazon.co.uk.
‘The Book Group’ Online Chat Transcript from 2002.

‘The Book Group’ at IMDB.

‘A Very Perculiar Practice’ by Andrew Davies (1986) on R2 UK DVD at Amazon.co.uk.
‘Game on’ by Andrew Davies (1995 - 1998) Complete Series 1-3 on R2 UK DVD at Amazon.co.uk.