The WORST episodes of The Book Group

Every episode of The Book Group ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Book Group!

Clare, a neurotic American, moves to Glasgow and starts a book group to meet new, interesting people. But Kenny, Dirka, Rab, Fist and Janice turn out to be rather more interesting than she bargained for...

Last Updated: 10/1/2024Network: Channel 4Status: Ended
On the Road
star
6.45
11 votes

#1 - On the Road

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/12/2002

Clare's book group starts to assemble. She meets Kenny, a handsome guy in a wheelchair who wants to be a writer; Janice, the frustrated wife of a Scottish footballer; and eccentric student Barney, to whom Clare is strangely attracted...

Directors: Annie Griffin
Watch Now:Amazon
Drowning
star
6.50
2 votes

#2 - Drowning

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/14/2003

Lachlan is in a brace, due to his unfortunate fall into the empty pool. He makes a terrible invalid, and Clare is no good at changing bedpans.

Watch Now:Amazon
A'Salaam Insh'Allah
star
6.50
2 votes

#3 - A'Salaam Insh'Allah

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/28/2003

Jean has a party to celebrate her book deal. Kenny sings karaoke, Lachlan proposes to a reluctant Clare, and Janice gets very drunk and tells Rab she loves him.

Watch Now:Amazon
A Little More Living
star
6.71
7 votes

#4 - A Little More Living

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/17/2002

Barney has died of an overdose. His brother Lachlan arrives to tell Clare - and there is an instant spark between them. Meanwhile, Kenny's literary fantasies intrigue Fist and Dirka - but can he deliver in the flesh?

Directors: Annie Griffin
Watch Now:Amazon
The Alchemist
star
6.90
10 votes

#5 - The Alchemist

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/19/2002

Kenny has an admirer at the leisure centre where he works, but does she know he's in a wheelchair? Meanwhile, Fist decides to follow some advice from this week's book - and leave her husband...

Directors: Annie Griffin
Watch Now:Amazon
Bedtime Stories
star
7.00
7 votes

#6 - Bedtime Stories

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/3/2002

Clare discovers Barney's on drugs, and decides it's her mission in life to save him. Meanwhile, Janice sleeps with the famous thriller writer, Martin Logan, and can't wait to go to confession to tell her priest, a big fan of the author.

Directors: Annie Griffin
Watch Now:Amazon
Research
star
7.00
2 votes

#7 - Research

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/21/2003

The group reads a dirty book, The Sexual History of Catherine M. Fist is impressed, and decides to organise group sex with Dirka. Lars and Bart. Meanwhile, Jean is mistaken for a prostitute while conducting research for her new book, and Clare meets Kenny's underage girlfriend, Harriet.

Directors: Annie Griffin
Watch Now:Amazon
You Must Change Your Life
star
7.33
3 votes

#8 - You Must Change Your Life

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/7/2003

Kenny is doing a book tour and the women of the Outer Isles can't get enough of the author of 'Peaks in the Mist'. Meanwhile, Lachlan seems to be taking an awful lot of interest in Clare's sister.

Directors: Annie Griffin
Watch Now:Amazon
Sueños
star
8.00
3 votes

#9 - Sueños

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/24/2003

Clare is living in apparent bliss with her artist boyfriend Lachlan, in a loft apartment with no furniture. But then her sister from hell comes to visit - and won't go away.

Watch Now:Amazon
Hunger
star
8.00
3 votes

#10 - Hunger

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/31/2003

Kenny brings along his new girlfriend, Carole Anne, to the book group, much to the irritation of all the women.

Watch Now:Amazon
Magical Realism
star
8.51
35 votes

#11 - Magical Realism

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/26/2002

Kenny is writing a book in which a beautiful woman who looks a lot like Fist shares a cabin in the hills with him. Clare is also writing a book, in which a handsome professor who looks a lot like Barney falls in love with his student, a lovely American woman not unlike Clare.

Watch Now:Amazon
Dark Alley
star
9.41
34 votes

#12 - Dark Alley

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/10/2002

Janice hosts the book group as they discuss the book written by the author she is having an affair with. But the group can't seem to focus on their subject.

Directors: Annie Griffin
Watch Now:Amazon