Stars criticised over deal for Book Club
THE PRODUCER who helped create Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan’s TV book club has described the presenters’ decision to put their names to a similar initiative with retailer WHSmith as “disappointing”.
Amanda Ross was working on the couple’s daytime Channel 4 programme Richard & Judy when she helped launch the show’s influential Book Club.
The feature championed the work of new and unknown authors and propelled more than 50 titles into the bestseller charts.
Ross’s production company, Cactus TV, made Richard & Judy throughout its run on Channel 4 and digital channel Watch from 2001 to 2009.
After the show was cancelled, Madeley and Finnigan signed a deal with retailer WHSmith to continue promoting their book club. Speaking in an interview with
Radio Times magazine, Ross criticised the duo’s decision, saying the commercial deal risked damaged the integrity of the work it had done for up-and-coming writers.
Ross said: “It was a paid-for campaign. I think Richard and Judy found it hard to understand that lots of authors on the show were becoming millionaires, while we couldn’t make any money out of it because you can’t be paid for your recommendations.”
Finnigan was quoted on the website of The Bookseller magazine saying: “It is beyond our wildest dream, really.
“Once we stopped doing daily TV, we really never thought, as much as we adored our book club on TV and as much as we carried on, we didn’t think without the prop of a television show that we would be able to recreate the success.”