An omnibus edition of Oh Dear, Doctor!, Look Out Doctor! and Surely Not, Doctor!, this volume follows the further exploits of Dr Bob Clifford in his country practice on the Somerset coast. Small though the town of Tadchester may be, nobody could accuse it of being sleepy. Not when stream of patients flocking to the surgery include Mrs. Short with her secret addiction, the absent-minded, incontinent vicar of St Peter's, the little greengrocer for whom an operation could restore marital duties with his huge bowler- hatted wife . . . not forgetting the entire rugby team from Drake's College who develop a mysterious and embarrassing ailment after an away match at a London night club . . . And even off-duty, life of Dr Bob is far from dull. Especially when it involves ailments at a writers' summer school, a camping holiday in France with his elderly, eccentric father-in-law and, ironically, a spell in hospital . . .

Known for his intelligent and often surreal humour, Paul Merton’s weekly appearances on BBC1’s Have I Got News For You – as well as Radio 4’s Just A Minute and his travel documentaries – have seen him become an artfully rebellious fixture in our lives for over 25 years. He also has a real story to tell. In ONLY WHEN I LAUGH, his rich and beautifully-observed autobiography, Paul takes us on an evocative journey from his working-class Fulham childhood to the present day. Whether writing about school days, his run-ins with the nuns and other pupils; his disastrous first confession; his meatpacking job; taking acid; leaving home to live in bedsit; his early brushes with the opposite sex – and not forgetting his repeated attempts to break into the world of comedy – Paul’s writing is always funny, poignant and revealing. And when his star finally ascends in the atmospherically drawn 1980s alternative cabaret scene there is a sense of excitement, energy, camaraderie, momentum and dramatic impending success... ...And then CRASH! In an unflinching and brilliantly written section that defines the book, we experience the disorienting and terrifying sustained manic episode that he suffered which landed him in a psychiatric hospital. These, and other tougher moments, are written about candidly and with sensitivity and honesty. Yet throughout ONLY WHEN I LAUGH, Paul Merton succeeds in telling his life story entertainingly, with warmth, humour and a big bucket load of wit. Ultimately uplifting, it is the story of a fascinating life, brilliantly told – and one of the best memoirs of the year.

Just Here, Doctor is the true story of a young country doctor and his patients - a richly entertaining and humorous chronicle of the life of a small West Country community as seen through the eyes of its G.P. Dr Clifford has some marvellous stories to tell: about the home delivery of a cricket fan's baby - in between overs of a televised Test Match; of the time he rode off on a gigantic horse to attend a hunting casualty - and rode back in an ambulance as the casualty; and the amazing saga of his student rugby tour of France - the craziest, most drunken ever undertaken. Here too, on the more serious side, are moving accounts of the courage of ordinary people in the face of serious, even fatal illness. Teeming with colourful and curious places and characters, Just Here, Doctor is packed with comedy, drama and tragedy, every bit as warm and enthralling as James Herriot's famous stories of a vet's life.

Doctor Bob's country practice is in Tadchester on the Somerset coast, but no one can accuse the town of being a sleepy little backwater. All human life is there with its quirks, colour, comedy and richness . . . There's the absent-minded, incontinent vicar of St Peter's; the well-known London publisher whose dog has more taste than most; the lady magistrate who travels for miles for a doctor with warm hands and the packet of suppositories which prompts a bomb scare! Then there's the hairdresser with a penchant for male strippers and the whispering journalist who learnt how to shout. Even off duty, Doctor Bob's life is full of incident and he himself ends up with a long spell in hospital. It all goes to show that truth can be so much stranger than fiction . . .

Doctor Bob lives in Tadchester on the Somerset coast. It's a good little town, but like all English country towns it has its fair share of interesting cases . . . To start with, there's young Mr Haggard who has a thing about doctors. Then there's Mr Wood, the amorous but underdeveloped photographer with a crush on Amazing Grace the receptionist . . . not forgetting Mrs Short with her secret addiction; Charlie Sloper, the local poacher and supermarket shoplifter; the accident-prone Aubrey Cattermole; and last but not least, the rugby team from Drake's College who develop a mysterious and embarrassing ailment after an away match at a London night club. And the strangest thing about these cases is, they're all true!

Three Times a Day, Doctor? combines the first three books in this humorous and heartwarming doctor series: Just Here Doctor; Not There Doctor; and What Next, Doctor? Together the paint a richly entertaining portrait of life in a small West Country community as seen through the eyes of its G.P. We read of the time he rode off on a horse to tend to a hunting casualty - and rode back in an ambulance as the casualty; of the craziest, most drunken rugby tour of France ever undertaken; of the pregnant woman whose X-rays revealed a medical phenomenon; of the elderly couple who turned out to be mother and son - the son being eighty-one . . . Teeming with colourful places and curious characters, by turns comic, dramatic and tragic, these tales provide an immensely entertaining slice of life delivered with a warmth and humour that will make them a real delight to read.

As charming as he is entertaining, Dr Robert Clifford dispenses a delightful dose of hilarious anecdotes, colourful portraits of patients, family and friends, tempered with heartwarming tales of human courage and tragedy. There's the eccentric hermit Hamish Richardson; the stubborn Romany Zackovitch Hebden; Miss Peabody, the elderly spinster ever hopeful of a pools win; and William Jessop, the blind man whose handicap obviously isn't a handicap! As well as stories from his Tadchester surgery, Dr Robert Clifford tells of his son's accident on Sark and there are more fishy tales with water bailiff John Denton and a sparkling of delightful descriptions of holidays at home and abroad. Doctor, family man, humourist, philosopher and counsellor, Dr Robert Clifford's stories are a tonic for us all.

The greatest joys of retiring, writes Dr Bob, are not having to get up early in the morning, not having to work at weekends and, above all, not being called out of bed at night. He should have added that it gives him more time to dip into his rich fund of lighthearted stories of wit, wisdom and the world at large. You're Still a Doctor, Doctor! gives us amusing insights into his medical career, and the writing and broadcasting career, and the writing and broadcasting career that took him under the spotlights and into some very embarrassing situations indeed . . . He also paints colourful pictures of patients and colleagues, records time spent messing about on boats, and the hilarious adventures of holidays abroad where he met, amongst countless others a man from Wolverhampton who married an eskimo . . .

What Next Doctor? is the third book in the hilarious Dr Clifford Chronicles, true-life experiences as G.P. in a West Country practice. This instalment commences when Dr Clifford and his bride wake up to a bizarre confrontation on the first day of their honeymoon - and promptly prescribe themselves champagne as a cure! The patients passing through his life are by turns comic and courageous, lovable and tragic. There's the long-married couple whose recipe for happiness is a row twice a week; the accident- prone ex- miner whose collection of injuries and ailments makes him a medical curiosity; and the elderly couple who turn out to be mother and son - the son is eighty-one! Dr Clifford presents us with an immensely entertaining slice of life- the tragedies and triumphs of ordinary people caught up in the human drama of survival in a world of sickness and ill health. And he tells his tale with all warmth and humour that makes his books a real delight to read.