Paperbacks

Victoria Wood: Unseen On TV Edited by Jasper Rees (Trapeze, £9.99) While researching Victoria Wood’s biography, Let’s Do It, Jasper Rees uncovered a trove of unseen sketches, songs and comic dialogue dating back nearly 50 years.

Now collected here, they range from a jolly poem about safety pins to a heartrending song about a shy girl called Gail who longs to be loved. The sketches vary in quality but some are laugh-outloud funny. If only we could see Wood perform them herself.

Emma Lee-potter

Did I Say That Out Loud? by Fi Glover and Jane Garvey (Trapeze, £9.99)

Forthright radio broadcasters Fi Glover and Jane Garvey present an award-winning podcast, Fortunately… With Fi And Jane, on which they chew the fat on everything from bingo wings to dodgy boilers. Now they have recreated the podcast in book form, taking turns to write a chapter to which the other responds.

Glover and Garvey have a dry sense of humour and a knack of hitting the nail squarely on the head, and no subjects are off the table. The book inevitably lacks the spontaneity of the podcast but it’s wise, outstandingly funny and never preaches.

Emma Lee-potter

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay (Picador, £7.99)

Bestselling medic-turnedcomic Adam Kay returns with festive offcuts deemed “too Christmassy” for This Is Going To Hurt. Apart from a ward condom wreath and a Christmas tree decorated with rubber gloves, it’s broadly business as usual.

This is a slim tome but it contains the same unique alchemy of medical insight and cynical wit.

Charlotte Heathcote