Specsavers to fund the revival of The TV Book Club.

CHANNEL 4 announces today the return of the acclaimed TV Book Club, funded by Specsavers, to be aired on More4, with repeats on Channel 4 the following lunchtime, in January 2010.

Produced by Cactus TV, creators of the original Book Club on Richard and Judy, The TV Book Club will review the most compelling reads for 2010, presented by stars Jo Brand, Gok Wan, Laila Rouass, Dave Spikey and Nathaniel Parker.

Taylor Herring PR have been appointed to promote the new series.

The funding of the new look TV Book Club follows the recent success of Specsavers headline sponsorship of the Crime Thriller Awards 2009, with Cactus and the Crime Writer’s Association. Aside from the TV Book Club, an eight part Summer Read, which champions the best in holiday reads, will follow later in the year.

The TV Book Club will offer viewers the chance to celebrate and immerse themselves in Britain’s best writing, discussed by a new panel of faces hand selected from all corners of TV, , comedy and arts. In a similar style to ordinary book clubs up and down the country, the presenters will be rating and reviewing one title each week, offering their personal insight and opinions.

The final ten titles for The TV Book Club will be revealed at the end of December. Each week the revived TV Book Club will also feature a major celebrity interview and an author who has been selected for a previous Book Club series, discussing how the programme changed their lives, offering a unique glimpse into how it feels to be a chart topping author. Previous authors that have benefited from featuring on the Book Club, include Kate Mosse, Victoria Hislop and Cecilia Aherne.

Creator and producer of the original and revived Book Club, Amanda Ross says: ‘We’re thrilled to be bringing the Book Club back to TV screens. Thanks to Specsavers we have a long term home on More4. We would also like to thank publishers, libraries and retailers, who have all provided invaluable support, which is set to continue to create a whole new wave of star authors. The Book Club is without a doubt the TV series I am most proud of and I’m looking forward to the start of its new chapter!’

Hamish Mykura, Head of Documentaries and More4 said ‘I’m delighted to bring the TV Book Club to More4 where it will form an exciting part of the resurgence of arts programming on the Channel.’

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For further information from Cactus TV or Channel 4, please contact Justin Jeffreys on tel: 020 8206 5151 or email: [email protected]

Notes To Editors

Jo Brand
Jo is most famously a stand-up comedian, but has also authored three novels, Sorting out Billy, It’s Different for Girls and The More You Ignore Me. Her autobiography, Look Back in Hunger became an immediate best-seller. A pioneer of the alternative comedy scene, her TV work includes Jo Brand’s Hot Potatoes, Through the Cakehole and BBC 3 comedy Getting On, which has just been commissioned for a second series.

Dave Spikey
Dave is a multi-award winning comedian, writer and actor. He has worked with long term comedy partner Peter Kay since 1996, and the pair wrote and starred in cult TV show Phoenix Nights. Dave has been touring since 2003, and wrote his first book, He Took My Kidney Then Broke My Heart! this year, based on local news stories he found while on tour.

Nathaniel Parker
Nathaniel graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and first joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986. His television career began in 1989, and he has since appeared in Joanna Trollope’s A Village Affair, Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, and psychological thriller Trust, as well as Oscar nominated movie The Bodyguard. Nathaniel also stars in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and is currently filming the series Land Girls.

Gok Wan
Gok has been a familiar TV face for five years, in that time hosting four television series and writing two books. He presents two hugely popular TV series, How to Look Good Naked, and Gok’s Fashion Fix, for Channel 4, and alongside the programme he wrote How to Look Good Naked: Shop for your Shape and Look Amazing! He also frequently contributes to Tatler and Marie Claire.

About Specsavers
Specsavers was founded by Doug and Dame Mary Perkins in 1984 and is now the largest privately owned opticians in the world. The couple still run the company, along with their three children. Their eldest son John is joint managing director. Specsavers has more than 1,340 stores throughout the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain and Australia. The group plans to continue its successful international expansion by opening stores in New Zealand. Annual turnover for the Specsavers Group is forecast to reach a record £1.4 billion in 2009. Specsavers was voted Britain’s most trusted brand of opticians for the eighth year running by Reader’s Digest in 2009.

About Cactus TV
Cactus TV is a member of the ALL3MEDIA group and run by husband and wife team Simon and Amanda Ross. Productions include Saturday Kitchen for BBC1, Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain for BBC2, Rachel Allen, Galaxy British Book Awards and 8 years of the Richard & Judy show live from Cactus studios.