
Episodes List

Ep.23 Episode 23
Air Date: 2009-10-15
For the new series' first episode, Mariella Frostrup (right) is at the 60th Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Ep.24 Episode 24
Air Date: 2009-10-22
Iranian-born comedienne Shappi Khorsandi, veteran journalist Harold Evans, and Melvyn Bragg

Ep.25 Episode 25
Air Date: 2009-11-05
Ian Rankin and Tracy Chevalier

Ep.26 Episode 26
Air Date: 2009-11-26
Dr Brooke Magnanti, 34, works at St Michael's Hospital and wrote best-selling books about her time as a prostitute as she struggled to make ends meet. Also, Booker Prize-winner Hilary Mantel.

Ep.27 Episode 27
Air Date: 2009-12-03
John O'Farrell, Conn Iggulden, and Alison Weir

Ep.28 Episode 28
Air Date: 2009-12-10
Michael Palin, Andrew Marr, and John Banville

Ep.29 Episode 29
Air Date: 2010-02-25
At the start of a new run Mariella Frostrup recaps some of the highlights from the series that has got people talking about books again. These include conversations with Dr Brooke Magnanti, the real-life Belle De Jour and inspiration for Billie Piper's character in The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Ben Elton, Sue Townsend and Robert Harris.

Ep.30 Episode 30
Air Date: 2010-03-04
Robert Harris, William Boyd, and Lynn Barber

Ep.31 Episode 31
Air Date: 2010-03-11
Looking back over the best bits from the first half of series four. Patricia Cornwell, Sue Townsend, Ian Rankin, and the almost ubiquitous David Mitchell all pop in for literary chat.

Ep.32 Episode 32
Air Date: 2010-03-18

Ep.33 Episode 33
Air Date: 2010-03-25
Antonia Fraser, Ian McEwan, and Joanna Trollope

Ep.34 Episode 34
Air Date: 2010-04-01
Fantasy sage Terry Pratchett. Orange Prize-winner Andrea Levy discussing her new novel, The Long Song. Marina Lewycka talks about the inspiration for her book We Are All Made of Glue. Plus, Sebastian Barry takes us to Ireland and the place where he wrote his prize-winning novel The Secret Scripture, and we discover Cherie Blair's bedtime reading.

Ep.35 Episode 35
Air Date: 2010-04-08
Philip Pullman, who is creating a stir with his new book about Jesus. Pullman retells the gospels with Jesus and Christ as brothers and two distinct characters. Rose Tremain talks about the follow up to her Orange prize winner. Plus, Lemony Snicket with his bedtime reading suggestions and award-winning debut novelist Neel Mukherjee.

Ep.36 Episode 36
Air Date: 2010-04-15
Upper-crust socialite and interior designer Nicky Haslam recounts anecdotes from his biography, and thriller writer Philip Kerr recommends reading Michel De Montaigne's essays when you are "feeling a bit thick". Monty Don talks about gardening, and a dry and unflappable Lionel Shriver talks about the American healthcare system in relation to her new novel, So Much for That.

Ep.37 Episode 37
Air Date: 2010-04-22
John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas; American novelist Joshua Ferris; and politician Shirley Williams

Ep.38 Episode 38
Air Date: 2010-04-29
Roddy Doyle on his fictional trilogy exploring what it means to be Irish; feminist Natasha Walter on the hypersexual society; John Lanchester on his bedtime reading (Tolstoy); and Martin Amis on women's liberation, the sexual revolution and autobiographical fiction.

Ep.39 Episode 39
Air Date: 2010-05-06
David Nicholls, Alistair Campbell, and Simon Kernick

Ep.40 Episode 40
Air Date: 2010-05-13
Authors George Pelecanos and Joanne Harris, and poet Simon Armitage

Ep.41 Episode 41
Air Date: 2010-05-20
Blake Morrison, Maggie O'Farrell, and Ben Macintyre

Ep.42 Episode 42
Air Date: 2010-05-27
Episode 24 "final episode of the series" - Professor Robert Winston on liabilities, Joseph O'Connor on love stories, and Jonathan Coe on loneliness. Plus, Martina Cole talks trade secrets.

Ep.43 Episode 43
Air Date: 2010-05-29
The Book Show at Hay: Turner winning ceramicist Grayson Perry, journalist Tony Parsons, and well travelled honorary Englishman Bill Bryson. Plus contributions from Jerry Hall and Beth Orton.

Ep.44 Episode 44
Air Date: 2010-05-30
The Book Show at Hay: Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Nadine Gordimer, and Christopher Hitchens. Music from Alex Valentine.

Ep.45 Episode 45
Air Date: 2010-05-31
Antony Beevor replacing Gary Kemp on the show tonight. Other guests are Audrey Niffenegger, Jo Brand & Dennis Rollins.

Ep.46 Episode 46
Air Date: 2010-06-01
Simon Schama, Joss Ackland, and Rob Brydon are the guests on Mariella's sofa today. Music from Thea Gilmore.

Ep.47 Episode 47
Air Date: 2010-06-02
The Book Show at Hay: William Dalrymple, Jacqueline Wilson, and Sir Ian Blair. Music is from the ever excellent Orquesta Buena Vista.

Ep.48 Episode 48
Air Date: 2010-06-03
The Book Show at Hay: Louis de Bernières, who has taken a shot at writing about rural England in the 1960s in his new book, Notwithstanding; Allegra Huston, author of the memoir Love Child; and the current children's laureate Anthony Browne.

Ep.49 Episode 49
Air Date: 2010-06-04
The Book Show at Hay: Brian May, Virginia McKenna, and Alexander McCall Smith talk animals, including a dog bugged by MI5. Music from the truly brilliant Toumani Diabate, and mathematician Alex Bellos teaches us how to cut a cake in a mathematical fashion.