I'll Die After Bingo: My unlikely life as a care home assistant

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I look forward to seeing his live shows if ever he brings them to the Adelaide Fringe, which would possibly be a very good platform for them. Unlike the other reviews I actually really liked the memoire style and glad he didn't shy from including his opinions and politics. He ignores memos on the “proper” (actually, patronising) ways to converse with residents, opening with questions like: “Is everybody having a safe afternoon?

It's clear that he feels his own vulnerability and struggles with mental health give him a heightened understanding of the plight of the 'elders' he supports- and, fundamentally a greater humility and patience. And Hannah Weatherill, acting head of media rights with Penguin Random House, said: ‘Pope’s memoir about his work as a carer is extraordinary – he captures the personalities of the residents, their families, and his colleagues in all their complexity with incredible empathy and humour. It’s important that the public, and politicians, have access to no-holds-barred accounts of what life in care is like for residents and staff, but stories of care are sadly few and far between – and there is definitely scope for more.

Anyone whose ever worked in care will nod their way through this ( and every scenario will be very familiar) Very good on the utter exhaustion of working long shifts, usually short staffed whilst still having to be ‘on it’ in every sense of the word. People generally don't like to think about themselves or their loved ones needing this kind of care, and it's almost one of the last taboos. He has a wonderful turn of phrase, both serious and comic, realising that gallows humour is an essential release-valve in a demanding job witnessing decay and detachment. His comedy act is based on finding humour in dealing with the realities of old age, however on the written page it all comes across as depressing and tragic, rather than funny.

I tip my hat to Pope and all the Popes working hard and wiping all the arses that people like me wince at. Instead he prefers to engage in deeper conversation and often entertained his charges with comic outbursts. All the events of the book take place before Lockdown when the plight of care homes was brought more to the fore on the news, since which time everything seems to have been forgotten again, dropped from our collective conscience.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. And care home residents (I too hate the world clients) shouldn't need to have to be 'humanized' but Pope does bring out the people so lovingly, whilst still sharing what it's like when the people he's getting to know may be disinhibited, emotional, or disconnected in ways their families don't recognize, for worse and sometimes for better. Once again care homes have entered my life as my in laws are now bouncing between hospital and care homes. In the creative industries (ergh) cultivating relationships is really important - and luckily Expectation is full of the nicest, most insightful and talented 'TV people' you'll ever find. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Heartfelt and told with humour, this reinforced my view that care home employees are so undervalued in society and for their minimum wage salary, regularly go over and above. Popes honesty and openness about his own personality and struggles are a refreshing change from the norm.

I’m very grateful they’ve taken a punt on me (a recovering Crack ‘ead Quaker) and my book (a book that includes a line about swallowing boobs). I’ve been a fan of the ‘professional memoir’ genre since reading Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt, a darkly comedic diary of Kay’s time as a junior doctor in the NHS – and Lonergan’s book is a valuable contribution from the rarely-heard perspective of a care worker. It does for care workers what doctor-turned-comedian Adam Kay’s 2017 memoir This is Going to Hurt did for medics.

His writing is superb and his experience in the care sector makes this one of the most potent books on the subject of humanity. This book does for care home workers what This Is Going to Hurt did for junior doctors… this isn’t just a conscience-rebooting book.On the other hand, Lonergan very clearly developed deeper links with those he was looking after, long-term, in care homes. Pope should have let someone else narrate, his style isn’t right for audio, it made me cringe at times. Any money you contribute will directly fund more reviews, interviews and features – the sort of in-depth coverage that is increasingly difficult to fund from ever-squeezed advertising income, but which we think the UK’s vibrant comedy scene deserves. However the author does accurately depict the monotonous and thankless task of being a carer in a care home.