I loved the TV series even though I was too young to really 'get' all of it at the time I watched it and I loved this book.

From the moment Reggie calls his mother-in-law "the hippopotamus" by accident you know that this book is going to be surreal and hilarious and it is. Who else could fake his own death and drive through southern England in a giant jelly? Who else but David Nobbs could get away with writing about it? I used to live near Dorchaster and could never drive there without muttering "The six-wheeled jelly moved along the A352 towards Dorchester and the setting sun." Simple minds, simple pleasures but it always cheered me up.

Just a word of warning; Don't read this book in bed. The laughing makes the mattress shake and you'll get complained at by whoever else you have in there with you. ( )