Muriel Spark by Ian Rankin | Sky Arts 6 October 10:00pm

Muriel Spark was once the most famous female author in the world. Movie studios fought over the film rights to her novels. Magazines sent limousines to collect her type-script articles. Yet she had a difficult relationship with fame and a turbulent relationship with her family. Now, author of the Rebus crime novels Ian Rankin explores his notes and diary entries from the PHD he once carried out on Sparks’ novels back as a student in Edinburgh, using them as a guide to explain why he believes Muriel Spark to be one of the great novelists of the 20th Century.