Script gets sexier second time around...

Bonnie Egstrom, who plays Dirka, above, said: "It's more sexy and a little more daring. It's getting really fun. Dirka becomes a stronger character; she's more developed in the sense that she's more outspoken.

"In the first series she was rather more muted, she just wanted to be like Fist, to be like her best friend. Now all that frustration has begun to seep out.

"In The Book Group all the actors get to play characters that are like an exaggerated version of aspects of their personalities. It's really good fun to be extreme like that.

"Annie Griffin (the writer of the series) is a real advocator of just being truthful, and that the comedy comes out of that. It doesn't need to be slapstick or whatever."

Co-star James Lancem, right, agrees: "Oh yeah. There's a bit more sex in it. I'm playing Lachlan, who's the twin brother of Barney and his relationship with Claire is not the sunniest of picnics. I'm nothing like the character. I had a ball playing him, it was great, great fun.

"The writing is so good, it's just a pleasure to be involved in. It's great to be in something that's not scared to be dark, something that creeps into the corners of places that other shows tend not to go to."

Egstrom confirms that it's a great working atmosphere. "Sometimes I've been on set and wanted to burst out laughing because some scenes are just so beautifully set-up and so very funny. It's been great to watch all the characters come alive again,

"The Book Group is like a little animal, and it's such fun to watch it take off again. It is quite a small team and we do get quite close over the course of filming and all the rehearsals; we quite often need to be reminded that it's actually work and we really do have a job to be getting on with..."

Neither actor has ever actually joined a book group and James particularly doesn't much fancy it:

"I probably wouldn't say very much and just hide in the corner. It would be a little bit grim, I would imagine."

Bonnie is more equivocal: "I haven't actually been a member of one, but people who have do tell me that it's so similar: people drink lots of wine, they end up fighting about politics or personal situations - they hardly ever talk about the actual books.

"It's funny what a book can do, what it brings out in people. There's a book in the new series which brings out the sexy beast in everybody. But that's all I'm saying. That seems to be the message for the new series: Books can be sexy."

First published:January 15, 2003

Published: 22 Mar 2009