This Is Going to Hurt, BBC1, review: Ben Whishaw is perfect in Adam Kay’s visceral, hilarious sensation

9 Feb 2022

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This Is Going to Hurt BBC1 review Ben Whishaw is perfect in Adam Kays visceral hilarious sensation

Based on the memoir of a former doctor, this bloody yet funny drama gives a peek behind the curtain of the NHS

Adam Kay’s 2017 memoir, recounting his life as a junior doctor on an obstetrics and gynaecology ward – unaffectionately nicknamed “brats and twats” – was an instant hit, winning awards and praise for the scathing truths it told about life on the wards. It was only a matter of time before it was adapted.

In This is Going to Hurt, Ben Whishaw (A Very English Scandal) adroitly plays a quasi-fictionalised version of Adam as he tries – and mostly fails – to balance his personal life with the demands of the hospital.

We first found him asleep in his car, exhausted from his previous shift and 10 minutes late for his next one. It wasn’t long before he was elbow deep in his first patient – or in his words “wearing her like Kermit the Frog”.

Adam’s wit makes the migration from book to screen perfectly. Even his sarcastic asides make the cut, in the form of addressing the audience, Fleabag-style. Adam isn’t the nicest man in the NHS, especially when it comes to dealing with his equally knackered house officer (the first rung of the junior doctor ladder) Shruti (newcomer Ambika Mod, excellent), but his honesty and gallows humour still make him likeable.

The supporting cast are equally brilliant. Alex Jennings is droll as Mr Lockhart, the ward consultant and Adam’s boss, who he desperately wants to impress, while Michele Austin shines as senior midwife Tracy, one of the few people who will let Adam’s bad attitude slip.

He only got a small look-in here, but Adam’s boyfriend, Harry (Rory Fleck Byrne), steals every scene he’s in.

Much of this opening episode of seven was spent setting the scene. Adam’s hours were spent meeting patients (one of them racist) and performing caesareans – this is not one for viewers with weak stomachs – all while fending off his mate’s questions about his impending stag do.

The emotional sucker punch came at the end, when a patient he had previously dismissed was sent into surgery with potentially deadly pre-eclampsia and is forced to deliver her baby months early. Adam, understandably, blames himself.

Set in 2006, there are some satisfying needle drops, particularly Florence and the Machine’s stomping “Kiss with a Fist” as Adam makes his rounds and “2 Wicky” by Hooverphonic while he leaves work in a daze.

Otherwise, the same story could be told in 2022 – a quietly political story of an overworked and understaffed NHS, and of a man who isn’t entirely comfortable in his own skin.

This Is Going To Hurt continues next Tuesday 15 February at 9pm on BBC One. The full box set is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.

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