‘It’s something between compulsion and comfort’: the quiet therapy of counting

Our pop culture expert still recalls the number of steps from her childhood bedroom to the bathroom. Now, though, she’s counting down to Christmas

Prescribed reading: Five of the best books by doctors

As Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt wins a readers’ choice award, we recommend five other author physicians. Please add to our notes

Comedy in a care home: the standups taking slapstick into new territory

The residents were expecting bingo. Instead they got lessons in strawberry spitting, a Railway Children spoof – and a stuntman stripping to his underpants

The spray’s the thing: how actors use perfumes to get into character

Playing Thatcher? Dab on Bluebell. Got a part in Hairspray? Reach for the Madame Rochas. We lift the lid on how actors use smells – from the finest fragrances to cheap tinned mackerel – to nail a role

How to Stay Alive by Bear Grylls – digested read

‘Nipping out for milk? Take a 12-inch knife, a defibrillator, three chicken tikka masalas and a solar-powered microwave oven’

Extreme Wives With Kate Humble review – threats and rescues in a Kenyan village

The presenter gets involved with danger, including the rescue of a girl, during her visit to Kenya’s Kuria people, who practise female genital mutilation