Led by a brilliant performance from Ben Whishaw, Episode 1 of This Is Going To Hurt is eye-openingly good
“It’s literally life or death here”
Just a quickie for this as though the Beeb has dropped the whole series of This Is Going To Hurt online, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get round to it with so much to watch at the moment. Created by Adam Kay and based on his memoir of the same name, we follow Ben Whishaw’s Adam as he works his way through life as an obs and gynae doctor in the NHS.
I feel like I could possibly do without the direct address asides, seemingly forever marked by Fleabag now, but the rest of this first episode was cracking. A jet black comedy teetering on the precipice of horror, perma-overworked acting registrar Adam has a shift from hell, followed by another as he is called straight back in to pull a double to cover absence.
We see the cost it wreaks on Adam, his personal life in tatters as his relationship with his friends and his fiance is strained, but also on his patients. As part of an NHS under terrible strain, Adam is fighting an uphill battle but he’s also quite a bit of a dick too, his brusque edges having their own repercussions. Michele Austin and Alex Jennings prove good value as two of his colleagues and I can’t wait to get on with the rest of the series.
