24) The Office: The Scripts: Series 1, by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
25) The Office: The Scripts: Series 2, by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

I caught most of the first series of The Office (the BBC original, not any subsequent version) on TV, and of course found it cringingly hilarious – appalled moments of recognition combined with surrealism (eg the stapler in the jelly). Rereading the scripts (which are nicely illustrated with screencaps from the series, particularly catching people’s expressions at crucial moments) brought back fond memories.

I haven’t seen any of the second series, and in fact I think that dramatically it works a bit better – the two parallel love affairs of Tim and Dawn, and David Brent with himself, give itmore of an emotional edge – it is a situation comedy, of course, but the characters, unusually, do change and develop (or regress) by the end of the series.

Highly recommended. But totally and utterly fails the Bechdel test.