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Dom Robinson reviews
VCI
- Cert:
- Cat.no: VCD 0219
- Running time: 141 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 24 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.78:1 (16:9)
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- 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 itand told myself I wasn’t going to bother watching further. Then I watched thenext one and before I knew it, I was two-thirds of the way through the seriesand completely hooked.
This seemed a bit odd at first as I never read books, but you soon realisethat the function of the book element to the series is largely just a hookon which to revolve the different elements of the cast together.
The group comes together after answering an advertisment in a local bookshopplaced by Claire (Anne Dudek), an American woman who’s upped sticks andmoved to Glasgow, rather like writer/director Annie Griffin. How muchof Claire’s life we’re about to see, I don’t know whether that has any bearingon Ms Griffin’s life, though. Claire has no friends and believes this group isthe way to make some, and we see her on the phone occasionally calling hometo 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 awheelchair, the latter being an element that sets off the usual awkwardnessin most people and this is shown as the characters run the gamut ofpersonalities. He works in the local leisure centre on reception and racesin his chair. Barney(I’m Alan Partridge‘sJames Lance) is a PhD student at the local university, a man Claireimmediately 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 Dutchgirl who’s studying economics and part-time model, Janice (Michelle Gomez), anaspiring writer – like many of the rest here – and married to Jackie (DesHamilton), the one footballer we see the most of, particularly because ofhis friendship with Rab; and finally Dirka (Bonnie Engstrom), from Sweden,who couldn’t be any more cute if she tried. Definitely, this reviewer’sfavourite.
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 itdeserved, but it wasn’t the all-out comedy they usually reserve for thattime. 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 whatmakes them tick.
I could go on further and tell you what happens, but that’s for you to findout by watching how the events unfold. It’s a class act on behalf of writer/directorAnnie Griffin and the entire cast.
If I had a slight gripe with the DVD, it’s that when the advert break would comeduring the original broadcast, there was a moment, often of subtle comedy,which would require the freeze-frame on the subject before the adverts camealong. 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 firstshowed the series in its 9.30 slot. They’ll allow the word “fuck” at thattime, but not the stronger swear, “cunt”. As such, they actually bleeped itout! 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 ituncut. The late-night repeats were uncensored though.
Something definitely offensive, which I’ll take the opportunity to mentionhere, is Channel 4’s increasingly arrogant stance on using their bloody reddot over anything half-worth watching. They brought it in permanently forCelebrity Big Brother last November, then dropped it after complaintsin early January, before bringing it back a month later. As I write this, thered dot has been dropped again as of February 15th, but who knows if it willreturn. I hope not. It’s perfectly possible to make the interactive featuresavailable without the need of a constant onscreen menace and it totally ruinsthe programme I’m trying to watch.
Get this, Channel 4. When I’m watching your programmes, I watch them. I haveno interest in pressing red, because that takes me away from said programme.Also, I watch almost everything having first recorded it on my TiVo, sopressing red will do absolutely sweet FA! I know advertising revenues arefalling, but this is not the way to increase them as it just infuriates viewers.Channel 4 have removed all accountability by canningRight To Replyand 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’vebecome 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 overtookChannel 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 intentionallyshot. It looks just as good as it did on TV, but then it was only shown lastyear 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, sodon’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 onlinechat and an audio commentary from the director. The menus are well-madeemulating the look of a book, there are subtitles in English, but a lack ofchapters. I can see that in making the menu look like a book there’s a reasonto making it only have six chapters, i.e. one for each of the episodes, butit doesn’t help when trying to skip through an episode if you want to getto a certain part.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.