Holding

I may not have been on GN when that happened merlot but I’ve also read the book, enjoyed it and will be watching.

Graham Norton should stick to what he does best and it's not writing.

My sister has read all his books and says they're great. I will be watching. My family are Irish and I love Ireland and its people.

I'll certainly give it a go, I've only read Home Stretch of his which wasn't bad, I believe Holding was his first and fairly well received so I look forward to tuning in tonight.

sodapop

Graham Norton should stick to what he does best and it's not writing.

Oh dear not a fan then !

Gave up with Home Stretch when he kept describing female relatives' cardigans. Not my idea of good writing.

It's only recently occurred to me how sharp, intelligent and multi talented many comedians are. I've been watching some on quizzes lately and their speed of response and general intelligence is impressive. No, I've never thought they were less than average bright but I've been seriously underrating them. I will certainly give holding a look in tonight. I clearly remember seeing GN when he was a mere stripling at the Edinburgh festival. We always went for unknowns. He was real fun even then and has certainly matured beautifully.

No,sorry if you are Lucca

I shall look out for that tonight. Thanks for the reminder

Thank you for flagging this up merlotgran. I remember doing the Q and A with Graham Norton and very much enjoyed his book but couldn’t for the life of me remember the title. I would have sadly have missed the programme.

sodapop

Graham Norton should stick to what he does best and it's not writing.

Oh, I've only read this one of his and enjoyed it.

I was trying to finish it before the series started.

I had seen this was coming on , I haven't read the book but was looking forward to the TV adaptation as Kathy Burke was directing too. Just watched 30 minutes and have giving up as no one was standing out as being any character you engage with it wasn't funny but it wasn't a drama either ,
the characters were all over acting and seemed stupid and silly.

The book was so much better.
All the characters have been turned into caricatures.

Kathy Burke should never have been allowed near it!

That was the biggest load of rubbish I’ve seen in a long time.

I agree that the book was much better but I’ll stick with it even though it has shades of Father Ted.

The book was a more gentle look at an Irish village, seemingly picture perfect but with all the simmering tensions and secrets underneath.
I didn't expect to enjoy the book as much as I did but this TV version is unsubtle and brash.

I take issue with the judgement that GN isn't a writer. I've read and enjoyed this book and others. His depiction of small-town life in Ireland is humorous without being malicious and his plots are intriguing and not implausible. I, for one, will continue to read his books.

Take a gentle, humorous book with the added spice of intrigues, undercurrents and a possible unsolved crime and hit it with a sledgehammer - that's what this TV adaptation did!

I liked the programme. Gentle. Shades of Ballykissangel.

I finished reading this book yesterday and loved it. Could not believe that someone has ruined it for television. People's characters have been changed, storylines added. No subtly at all. Sooo disappointed. Awful adaption. Read the book instead.

Rosiebee

I finished reading this book yesterday and loved it. Could not believe that someone has ruined it for television. People's characters have been changed, storylines added. No subtly at all. Sooo disappointed. Awful adaption. Read the book instead.

I feel exactly the same. The change of characters started in the first episode which was bad enough but it got worse and worse.
They missed out the most important aspects of the story, changed things so that the ending was ruined and the new beginning for them never materialised. It was rubbish.

Lucca

sodapop

Graham Norton should stick to what he does best and it's not writing.

Oh dear not a fan then !

If you haven’t read the book please don’t judge his writing on this dreadful tv series. If I was Graham Norton I would have been furious. In fact he is a very good writer and I am “picky”about books as I can’t stand rubbish. The tv adaptation was a ridiculous, shambolic effort by a ham fisted untalented script writer. Give Graham Norton a chance. Read him and you will probably be pleasantly surprised as I was. I also enjoyed his second book.

It won't put me off reading another Graham Norton book - nor from drinking "his" wine!