You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Ian Rankin, Kate Mosse and Lemn Sissay are among the authors to appear in the revamped new series of BBC Scotland’s “The Big Scottish Book Club”.
The revised format will see the three guests join host Damian Barr on set to talk to him and share stories with each other.
Bafta-winning actor Elaine C Smith, best known as Christine in the comedy hit “Two Doors Down”, joins founder of the Women’s Prize Mosse and cop-turned-author Karen Campbell to launch the new format later this month on the BBC Scotland channel.
Other authors lined up to appear in further episodes include Rankin and Sissay alongside Rachelle Atalla, Mark Billingham, Jennifer Egan, Patrick Gale, Graeme Macrae Burnet, Armistead Maupin, Denise Mina, Chitra Ramaswamy, Bethan Roberts and Sarah Vaughan.
Among the stars booked for the series — many of whom are authors or writers in their own right — are Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross, comedian Josie Long, football legend Pat Nevin, actor Gavin Mitchell, broadcasters Stuart Cosgrove and Andrew Cotter, Charlie Higson from “The Fast Show” and the Reverend Richard Coles.
Barr said: “I love it. I get to meet people whose work I’ve admired; people whose work has intrigued me. And they get a chance to talk to each other which is the really nice part of our new format. So it’s not just me talking to them, they are also talking to each other. And you get some really surprising connections and stories you just wouldn’t hear anywhere else.
“What I love about this show is that we are giving people the space to think, a space to disagree and a space to be surprised. As well as all that brilliant cultural insight and chat we find out from Elaine what her iconic creation Christine would read. Where else can you get all that?"
This forthcoming series of eight episodes of “The Big Scottish Book Club” will also feature reviews and recommendations from book clubs from around Scotland.
The new eight-part series will start on the BBC Scotland channel on 30th October at 10 p.m.