Big Scottish Book Club: The End

Photo by Kirsty Anderson.

All good stories have a beginning, a middle and an end - as any Big Scottish Book Club viewer can tell you. We brought books back to telly in 2019 - thanks to a far-sighted commission from Gareth Hydes at BBC Scotland and the producing brilliance of IWC Media, lead by Mark Downie and Pauline Law. Series Seven went out last year and I’m really sad to tell you it was our last.

Since our first series in 2019, I’ve welcomed over 140 of my fellow writers to the show (full list in another post). I’m grateful to each and every one of them for trusting me with their words - especially to the debut writers who took their first brave steps with us.

Thank you to all the poets with music on their tongues. Thank you to whole libraries of novelists for proving the novel is so very far from dead. Thank you to all the memoirists with stories that moved me from laughter to tears (often in the same sentence). Thank you to the brave historians filling the silences in the archives, never more needed than now. Thank you to all the writers of every genre from across Scotland, throughout the UK and around the world. Thank you for trusting me with your words and making me a better reader and writer. 

And, of course, I’m grateful to you for watching. I hope it’s given you as much joy as it’s given me. Thank you for coming back to us season after season, through Covid and all. You made us the longest-running books show and the last one standing. I’ve loved all your letters and messages and enjoyed meeting so many of you while out on tour with The Two Roberts. I really love hearing what you think of the books you’ve found through the show. I’m especially grateful to the folk that brought me tablet, it’s a miracle I’ve still got teeth. 

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TV can’t happen without dedicated talented freelancers in every dept from makeup to sound, editing to lighting, cleaning to floor managing. Series after series, the same folk came back to work together on Book Club and I’ve watched their skills grow and benefited from their brilliance: Carlin Wallace, Nicholas Boyle, Mark Crossan, Colin Lennox, Caroline Hamilton, Karen Graham, Donald MacInnes, Peter Kelly, Kirsty Anderson and Duncan McCormick.

We started off touring venues around Scotland from barns to libraries and ended up based in the historic and beautiful Leith Theatre, who made us so welcome. Thanks to all the venue staff and volunteers there. Our last few series were filmed during the EIBF and I want to thank the team there for helping us secure such great guests.

Libraries, librarians, bookshops, booksellers and book groups are the beating heart of this show. Thanks to the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) for getting our books into so many libraries. Independent Bookshops have been big supporters – I can’t pass one without making a purchase. A special thanks to the Old Bank in Wigtown for such beautiful table displays!

Book Club grew out of my Literary Salon, so I want to thank again: Kirsty Milner, Rosie Chipping, Megan Bay Dorman, Jude Turner, Amy Very and Matt Casbourne. As well as my TV Agent Vanessa Fogarty and Literary Agent Clare Conville.

So much to be grateful for! Please let me say, for one last time:

Happy Reading.

DB x

PS You can still catch Series Seven on iPlayer!