This is a love letter to the NHS
As TV adaptation of his multi-million selling memoir, memoi This Is Going To Hurt, airs on BBC1, writer Adam A Kay and star Ben Whishaw tell DANIELLE DANIELL DE WOLFE what we can expect
Some of the funniest scenes have been in the gynaecology ward, having to remove various items from various orifices. They’ve been very funny...
Ben Whishaw (right) who plays Adam in the adaptation of This Is Going To Hurt
“WHO would play you in a story of your life?” is a go-to dinner party conundrum.
For most, the chances of that scenario playing out in the real world are slim to none. For doctor-turned-comedy writer Adam Kay, it’s a question that required an immediate and absolute answer: Ben Whishaw.
Best known for his roles as Q in the Bond franchise and Norman Scott in A Very English Scandal – for which he picked up a Bafta for Best Supporting Actor – Ben’s medical expertise, unlike Kay’s, is somewhat limited. That needn’t matter though, for what the actor lacks in prenatal knowledge, he more than makes up for in delivery – of lines and fictional babies.
Donning a set of scrubs and heading straight on to the set of a labour ward as part of new sevenpart BBC drama This Is Going To Hurt, the darkly comedic on-screen world is an adaptation of Adam’s multi-million selling memoir of the same name.
“I must be the only person in the country who hadn’t heard of it,” says Ben, 41, with a slight shrug, describing his lack of prior knowledge as “a bit embarrassing”.
After making up for lost time with the source material, the actor recounts the “extraordinary” experience of researching the world of obstetrics and gynaecology.
Aided by three on-set medical advisers, a grand total of a “few afternoons” of hands-on training prepped the cast ast for filming courtesy sy of Covid-indu ced lockdown measures. ures.
“We’ve learned arned how to do Caesareesareans,” Ben reveals. als. “I had no idea ea that it was as s basic a process s as it is.
“You literally y take a scalpel el and slice through gh the flesh, then n you literally put ut your hands in and pull the muscles apart, and then you shove your fist in and grab the baby.”
Dubbed a “love letter to the NHS” by Adam and Ben, the series was born out of the former’s diary entries, scrawled between sleepless nights and endless en overtime during his stint as a junior doctor
Noting a direct adaptation t of his diaries would have turned the series into what Adam describes as a “oneman sketch show”, the former doctor, also 41, says the TV adaptation opted for a different route, expanding the world contained in the pages of his memoir.
Reassuring fans of the book that “the greatest hits are all here” – whether in the form of anecdotal monologues to camera or playedout scenes – Ben.explains that the series and memoir “go hand in hand”.
“A lot of the humour that’s in the show is just drawn directly from real-life stuff that happened to Adam. And to a degree, a lot of the jokes are Adam’s way of coping, I suppose, with the pressures of being a doctor,” he says.
“I had no idea, really, of the pressures that these people are under.”
With directing duties shared
between Lucy Forbes (The End Of The F***ing World) and Baftanominated Tom Kingsley (Stath Lets Flats), the series stars newcomer Ambika Mod as Shruti, a young junior doctor yet to be tainted by the stresses of hospital life.
Joined by Bafta-nominated Alex Jennings (The Crown, A Very English Scandal) as Adam’s domineering boss Mr Lockhart, and Dame Harriet Walter (The Crown, Succession) as Adam’s mother Veronique, This Is Going To Hurt has attracted a who’s who of acting talent.
Like countless people up and down the country, Ben says the notion of stepping into a hospital fills him with “dread”.
Despite this, it was a routine the actor quickly became accustomed to – albeit swapping a working hospital for the ultra-realistic confines of a purposebuilt set.
Immersing himself in a world laden with prosthetics capable of inducing a “very visceral reaction”, the star recounts a number of particularly memorable scenes now permanently ingrained in his brain.
“Some of the funniest ones have been in the gynaecology ward, having to remove various items from various orifices. They’ve been very funny...
“There was also a scene that I particularly love when a woman wants to eat her own placenta because she’s read that it’s a good thing for her and the baby, and, well, it gets messy.”
Highlighting the comedic highs alongside the heart-wrenching lows of the profession, Adam’s work – both as an author and screenplay writer – reflects the NHS as it was when his diaries were first written in 2006.
Describing some of the memoir’s fluid-drenched tales as “repulsive”, Adam says they depict the realities of a system “with all of its flaws”.
“The big thing in terms of changing things was making sure that I didn’t go to prison,” announces Adam in a matter-offact manner. “As a result I had to change a lot of the clinical situations... and also, I had to change a lot of people in my personal life, because I still want some of them to speak to me.”
And while Ben says he hopes viewers find themselves thoroughly entertained by the series, he’s quick to highlight the show’s “really serious agenda – politically and socially”.
Reflecting on how the timing of the project couldn’t be more apt, he adds: “We’ve all been more aware than normal, probably, of just how much we owe to the people who work for the NHS.
“I think we’re all still reeling from the last couple of years, but certainly I feel like, in making the show, there’s a real sense of purpose amongst the cast and crew and everyone.
“This feels like something important to do, in a sense.”
This Is Going To Hurt starts on Tuesday on BBC1 at 9pm