Watch videos

Dastardly plots, the Victorian underworld and the British Library porn desk. Sarah Waters gives an exclusive insight into ‘the untidiness that goes into writing a novel’. 

Production credits: With thanks to Sarah Waters; interviewed by Jo Hamya; directed and edited by Benjamin Sutton, director of photography Kia Little; sound recordist Micheal Ademilua; production manager Laura Shaw; producer Jon Davenport.

Prasanna Puwanarajah reads an extract from ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’

The story so far: Lucy Barton, a successful writer living in New York, remembers her daughter’s illness and the break-up of her first marriage

The story so far: Jim and Ed, two detectives investigating a series of strange murders in Money, Mississippi, meet Mama Z, a local centenarian who has been compiling records of every lynching in the US

The story so far: Coalman Bill Furlong visits a local convent and is disturbed by an encounter with a group of girls at its training school

The story so far: Joe Coppock forges an unlikely friendship with a mysterious wanderer named Treacle Walker and is introduced to an ancient bog man, Thin Amren

Nikki Amuka-Bird reads a second extract from ‘Glory’

‘The Promise’, directed by Christine Ubochi, featuring David Jonsson and produced by Rural Media.

Stuart Campbell reads Shuggie Bain.

‘A Passage North’, directed by Yero Timi-Biu, featuring Paul G Raymond and produced by Rural Media

Fiona Button in a film of ‘No One Is Talking About This’, directed by Liam Young and produced by Rural Media in partnership with the BBC.

‘The Fortune Men’ directed by Yero Timi-Biu, featuring Elmi Rashid Elmi and produced by Rural Media

‘Bewilderment’, directed by Liam Young, featuring Luke Norris and produced by Rural Media

Watch the 2020 Booker Prize ceremony, in which Douglas Stuart wins the prize with his book, Shuggie Bain.

Watch the moment that Anita Brookner wins The 1984 Booker Prize with her book Hotel du Lac.

Watch the 1991 Booker Prize ceremony, originally broadcast by the BBC as a Late Show special, in which Martin Amis makes his first appearance as a shortlisted writer, and Ben Okri wins for The Famished Road.

Watch the moment Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark is announced as the 1982 Booker Prize-winning book.

The Booker Prize 2002 full ceremony, in which Yann Martel wins the prize with his book, Life of Pi

The full ceremony from 1992, in which Michael Ondaatje wins the prize with The English Patient.

Kazuo Ishiguro Wins The 1989 Booker Prize for The Remains of the Day

Watch the full Channel 4 broadcast of the controversial 1985 Booker Prize winning ceremony, including interviews with the shortlisted authors and the deeply divided judges.

Chair of the 1991 judging panel Jeremy Treglown welcomes Ben Okri to the stage to collect the Booker Prize for The Famished Road.

Watch the moment Keri Hulme’s The Bone People is announced as the 1985 Booker Prize winning book, and hear Hulme’s immediate reaction just after on the phone to Hermione Lee.