The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Irvine Welsh

   The award-winning Scottish writer Irvine Welsh speaks to Bookclub, presented by James Naughtie, about his era-defining 1993 debut, Trainspotting. Following a non-linear plot and written in Scots and Scots English, the novel is more of a collection of interconnected stories told from multiple viewpoints, all centred around a group of friends, who have become household names - Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie - as they battle, among other things, heroin addiction, poverty, and a burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis. The novel had sold well over a million copies in the UK by the year 2015 and has been translated into thirty languages. The novel was turned into a 1996 film, often described as a modern classic, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Kelly Macdonald. This episode was recorded at the Edinburgh International Books Festival in August 2026. Producer: Dominic Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.

   September 06, 2026·29min
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   Number 2: Janice Hallett

   Led by presenter James Naughtie, the award-winning writer Janice Hallett speaks to a Bookclub audience about her debut novel, The Appeal. Published in 2021 the novel -- which is presented as a series of documents, emails, messages and transcripts -- follows an amateur dramatics troupe called The Fairway Players, which is staging a rendition of Arthur Miller's, All My Sons, to raise funds for little Poppy Reswick's life-saving medical treatment. But is it possible a murderer is hiding in plain sight? This episode of Bookclub was recorded in Broadcasting House, London. Producer: Dominic Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This is a BBC Audio Scotland production.

   August 02, 2026·29min
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   Number 3: Dorothy Koomson

   Led by presenter James Naughtie, the writer Dorothy Koomson takes questions from a Bookclub audience about her 2010 novel The Ice Cream Girls. The novel follows the characters of Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe who are tried for the murder of predatory schoolteacher, Marcus Hansley. Poppy is jailed, while Serena is allowed to walk free, and, among other things, the novel examines how the teenagers' experiences with Marcus have far-reaching consequences. Described by the Independent newspaper as "one of the biggest selling black authors in Britain" Dorothy Koomson has been writing novels since she was thirteen years old. In 2022 she was a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Author image credit: Niall McDiarmid. Producer: Dominic Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.

   April 05, 2026·29min
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   Number 4: Alan Cumming on Alasdair Gray's Lanark

   Led by James Naughtie, this special episode of Bookclub celebrates the late Alasdair Gray's 1981 masterpiece, Lanark, at the Pitlochry Winter Words Festival, with the actor Alan Cumming, who is the voice of the new audiobook recently released by Canongate. Described by the author as 'a life in four books', Lanark follows the interwoven lives of Lanark and Duncan Thaw through the disintegrating cities of Unthank and Glasgow. The book has garnered widespread praise and critical acclaim for sitting realism and surrealism side by side and for daring to be experimental. The Guardian described the novel as "one of the landmarks of twentieth century fiction" while the Times Literary Supplement said it was "profoundly perceptive about the ways in which our society is destroying itself". This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre in February. Producer: Dominic Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This is a BBC Audio Scotland production.

   March 01, 2026·29min
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   Number 5: Emma Thompson: Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

   The award-winning actress Emma Thompson takes questions on Sense and Sensibility in this special episode of Bookclub to mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth. Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen's first novel published in 1811 when she was thirty-five years old. The book follows the Dashwood sisters as they navigate their way through love and the threat of its loss. Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment. Emma Thompson won an Oscar for her screen adaptation of the 1995 film, of the same name, in which she played Elinor Dashwood. The film also starred Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood, Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars, Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon, and Greg Wise as John Willoughby. This episode was recorded at Broadcasting House, London, in August. Producer: Dominic Howell Editor: Gillian Wheelan This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.

   December 16, 2025·37min
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