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 (Anne Dudek), who, at the  start of the series, had recently moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to 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. Some episodes are titled for the book that is discussed in the group. 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".