Every season of The Book Show ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best seasons of The Book Show!

Stephen King, Salman Rushdie (Shalimar the Clown), and Barbara Taylor Bradford

Episode 1

For the new series' first episode, Mariella Frostrup (right) is at the 60th Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Episode 23

Iranian-born comedienne Shappi Khorsandi, veteran journalist Harold Evans, and Melvyn Bragg

Episode 24

Episode 25

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.

Episode 26

John O'Farrell, Conn Iggulden, and Alison Weir

Episode 27

Michael Palin, Andrew Marr, and John Banville

Episode 28

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.

Episode 29

Robert Harris, William Boyd, and Lynn Barber

Episode 30

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.

Episode 31

Episode 32

Antonia Fraser, Ian McEwan, and Joanna Trollope

Episode 33

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.

Episode 34

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.

Episode 35

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.

Episode 36

John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas; American novelist Joshua Ferris; and politician Shirley Williams

Episode 37

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.

Episode 38

David Nicholls, Alistair Campbell, and Simon Kernick

Episode 39

Authors George Pelecanos and Joanne Harris, and poet Simon Armitage

Episode 40

Blake Morrison, Maggie O'Farrell, and Ben Macintyre

Episode 41

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.

Episode 42

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.

Episode 43

The Book Show at Hay: Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Nadine Gordimer, and Christopher Hitchens. Music from Alex Valentine.

Episode 44

Antony Beevor replacing Gary Kemp on the show tonight. Other guests are Audrey Niffenegger, Jo Brand & Dennis Rollins.

Episode 45

Simon Schama, Joss Ackland, and Rob Brydon are the guests on Mariella's sofa today. Music from Thea Gilmore.

Episode 46

The Book Show at Hay: William Dalrymple, Jacqueline Wilson, and Sir Ian Blair. Music is from the ever excellent Orquesta Buena Vista.

Episode 47

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.

Episode 48

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.

Episode 49

NEW SERIES 5 - Susan Hill, Sebastian Faulks, and James Ellroy

Jilly Cooper, Judith Kerr, and Salman Rushdie

Episode 2

Lynne Reid Banks, Justine Picardie, Barry Humphries, and Lee Child

Episode 3

Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Boleyn Girl; Val McDermid; and Michael Frayn

Episode 4

Iain M Banks on his latest sci-fi novel Surface Detail, Michelle Paver on why she finds the arctic such a scary place in her new novel Dark Matter, and Bernard Cornwell on how necessity drove him to become a novelist and his latest book The Fort.

Episode 5

Helen of Troy in jeans Bettany Hughes, travel writer Tim Butcher, and satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. Plus, Alison Weir on The Write Place and Ken Follett's bedside reads.

Episode 6

India Knight talks about Comfort & Joy, Nicholas Evans on The Brave, and Amanda Foreman on A World on Fire

Episode 7

Conn Iggulden, Michael Holroyd, and Dawn French on their latest books and what every 21 year old should be reading. Plus a look inside Philip Kerr's study, Peter Carey's favourite bookshop, and Tara Palmer Tomkinson's bedside reads.

Episode 8

Sir Michael Parkinson talks about lasting fame as Emu's interviewer and being grumpy, Edmund de Waal shows off his family heirlooms, and PD James on turning real life detective. Plus the first of our Xmas book recommendations.

Episode 9

Nigella Lawson, Kevin McCloud, and Kate Morton

Episode 10

Biographer Sarah Bakewell, spin doctor and diarist Alistair Campbell, and cult film director John Waters

Episode 11

Lindsey Davis, Daisy Goodwin, and Raymond Khoury

Episode 12

Guest authors Matthew Parris, Leila Aboulela, and writer/director Rowan Joffé. Also Armistead Maupin on his Bedside Reads, Jonathan Safran Foer reads us his Fine Line, Colin Dexter gives his Book Club Recommendation, and Sister Wendy reveals her writing habits.

Episode 13

Linda Grant, Simon Sebag Montefiore, and Jane Shilling. Plus Belle de Jour's bedside reads, Mark Mills' Book Club, and Steve Bell's study.

Episode 14

Wendy Holden, Anthony Quinn, and Edna O'Brien as well as a trip to Paris to see Victor Hugo's study, as well as Rebecca Hunt's bedside reads and Philip Kerr's Book Club selection.

Episode 15

Allison Pearson, Helen Dunmore, and Francesca Beauman. Plus: Hugh Bonneville on his book club choice, Kate Mosse on The Write Place, and Alexander McCall Smith reveals his bedside reads.

Episode 16

Bath Literature Festival (1/2): Howard Jacobson, Colin Thubron, and Kim Edwards

Episode 17

Bath Literature Festival (2/2): Kazuo Ishiguro, David Starkey, and Aminatta Forna

Episode 18

Words by the Water: Jackie Kay, Valerie Grove, and Joanna Trollope

Episode 19

Ways With Words Festival: Salley Vickers, Manju Kapur, and Chris Mullin

Episode 20

Noughts and Crosses writer Malorie Blackman, Costa-nominated author Louise Doughty, and controversial historian Niall Ferguson.

Episode 21

Melvyn Bragg, Emma Donoghue, and Wendy Cope

Episode 22

Biographer Hugo Vickers tells all about Wallis Simpson, bestselling rom-com author Jenny Colgan serves up a feast, and Jennifer Egan tells us about her novel A Visit From The Goon Squad which she says is Proust meets The Sopranos.

Philip Hensher, Peter Ackroyd, and Sara Paretsky

Stefanie Powers, Monica Ali,and Paula McLain

Simon Winchester, Esther Freud, and Eoin Colfer

Bestseller Wilbur Smith, Sky News' presenter turned novelist Kay Burley, and John Julius Norwich gives us an audience when he discusses his new book The Popes.

Jodi Picoult discusses her latest, Sing You Home. Caradoc King, literary agent turned writer, discusses his powerful memoir Problem Child. Irish novelist Paul Murray talks about his tragi-comic novel set in a Dublin boarding school, Skippy Dies.

Stella Tillyard, Douglas Kennedy, and Edward St Aubyn

The Book Show at Hay (1/4): Paul Theroux, Jeffery Deaver, and Cerys Matthews - who also entertains us with a song from her new album.

The Book Show at Hay (2/4): Professor Brian Cox, Henning Mankell, and Mark Logue

The Book Show at Hay (3/4): David Baddiel, Elif Shafak, and David Bailey

The Book Show at Hay (4/4): Victor Gregg, Adam Nicolson, and Marcus Sedgwick

Terry Jones on his Animal Tales and new film, author Rosamund Lupton with her latest, and Deborah Moggach pays tribute to Beryl Bainbridge's career

Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, and John Boyne

Colm Toibin, Liz Lochhead, and author/director Rebecca Miller (last episode of this series)

Find out what Pamela Stephenson Connolly thinks is the sexiest thing someone can do, what Joan Bakewell's guilty pleasure is, and hear Shakespeare like you've never heard it before!

Episode 99

Three people -- generally authors but also agents and publishers -- talk about their work as well as the hot topics of the day.

The Best Seasons of The Book Show

The Best Seasons of The Book Show

Season 1

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7