The Book Group: The Complete Second Series DVD Review:

For anyone new to the series it should probably be pointed out that The Book Group has very little to do with books. Anyone who was hoping for a literary series should probably keep their nose firmly in a novel, because the group is simply a device used to explore the lives of the various oddballs who attend.

In the first series American Claire (Anne Dudek) set up the group to make new friends, but instead ended up attracting a strange bunch. There’s Janice (Michelle Gomez) a footballer’s wife desperate for a media career, more footballer’s wives in the shape of Dirka (Bonnie Engstrom) and Fist (Saskia Mulder), Kenny (Rory McCaann)a mild mannered wheelchair bound writer and Rab (Derek Riddell) who has fallen for a Spanish footballer.

Claire’s boyfriend, Lachlan (James Lance) is a new addition to the group as is Claire’s spiteful sister Jean (Karen Gilgrariff).

You might think that out of this varied bunch it would be easy to find at least one character to sympathise with or relate to, but it’s actually surprisingly difficult. They’re a thinly fleshed out, unbelievable lot who on the whole are hatefully self-obsessed. It’s hard to really care what happens to them along the way. Of course all of them have complicated love lives which is what the series revolves around, but again it’s tricky to really muster up enough interest to care what happens.

Claire spends most of the series pining after Kenny in Don Quixote dream sequences (the only consistent reminder that anyone is doing any reading), but it’s difficult to root for her as you would never wish her neuroses on the one character who seems partially normal.

Despite Michelle Gomez (also seen in Green Wing) acting her comedy socks off there are still very few laughs to be had. The are plenty of scenes that are definitely set up to produce a few, Jean’s horror as she stumbles on her sister’s “daytime fellatio” is probably meant to be hilarious, but really just feels painfully embarrassing and depressing.

The pathetically insipid and sexually frustrated Lachlan is at times mildly amusing, especially his creative waffling, but his constant exclamations of “I’ve got a boner” do get a tad tiresome.

All in all this is a good concept that has gone to waste. This should have been about a group of interesting characters (What’s with all the footballer’s wives?) who actually learn something about their relationships through the books they read. This lot don’t seem to learn or develop much at all. If you want to watch a series about relationships watch Sex and the City. It’s miles funnier. They probably read more too.



Natalie Hunt