Pointless host Richard Osman's runaway bestseller The Thursday Murder Club was the most borrowed book from Oxfordshire’s libraries this year.

The plot concerns four unlikely friends in a peaceful retirement village who meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

The book, which is being made into a movie, was an instant best-seller and Richard Osman, who was a successful producer TV before fronting Pointless, was crowned author of the year at the British Book Awards.

Witney Gazette:

Between January 1, 2021, and December 1, the novel was borrowed 334 times in Oxfordshire libraries.

Mr Osman, who has since penned another hit The Man Who Died Twice, has revealed that the series is based on his mother’s retirement home in Sussex as he thought it would be the perfect place to stage a murder.

He added: “It’s like the A-team but everyone’s over 70 and they’ve done these extraordinary things and yet they’re invisible because of the way we treat older people.”

However, he revealed that his mother first read it through to check none of the portrayals were too close to her fellow residents so they could not take legal action against him.

The most borrowed children’s title was Tom Gates 18: Ten Tremendous Tales by Liz Pichon, which was borrowed 310 times.

The globally successful series, known for their doodles and handwritten font, features a schoolboy hero Tom Gates and this book contains ten side-splitting tales featuring ant-infested underwear, a seriously delicious chicken pie and the enigmatic Wafer Boy.

Former Doctor Who actress Catherine Tate, 52, will voice a long-suffering mother in an adaptation of the hit books on Sky Kids in January.