This Is Going to Hurt is THE best series on TV right now, and nearly all the critics agree – here’s our review.
The comedy drama started this week on BBC One (Tuesday February 08 2022).
And it’s certainly not boring.
Other current TV series – you know who you are – should take note.
Here’s our review of why This Is Going to Hurt is outstanding, and a round-up of what other critics are saying…
***Warning: spoilers from episode one of This Is Going to Hurt ahead***
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This Is Going to Hurt review – it’s funny as hell
There are so many reasons why everyone needs to watch this seven-part series.
The comedy drama is based on the bestselling diaries of former doctor Adam Kay.
It’s a scalding portrayal of a day in the life of a doctor working in obstetrics and gynaecology…
Or “brats and twats” as they call it.
Episode one started with the main character Adam asleep in his car, so exhausted from his shift as a trainee doctor that he couldn’t even make it home.
If Adam had a middle name, it would be ‘KNACKERED’.
Within seconds, we were catapulted straight into the messy, bloody chaos of his day when he saw a woman in labour outside of the hospital.
It was played for laughs but, we all knew, it was deadly serious too.
The pregnant woman had an umbilical cord prolapse – and the baby’s arm was hanging out.
One moment we were laughing, the next we were gasping in horror.
This Is Going to Hurt episode one – the script
This Is Going to Hurt is a painfully funny, heartbreakingly honest series set in an NHS labour ward.
The script is one of the best – adapted for TV by the book’s author Adam Kay.
Actor Ben’s wry asides to the camera as Adam drew us in, and provided the much-needed humour.
Ben was sublime as the doctor, who was pushed to the very edge every time he turned up for work.
The horrors of birth – two foot salad tongs, and vaginal tears – were juxtaposed with the utter beauty of childbirth.
It was a rollercoaster of emotions.
Read more: This Is Going to Hurt: 5 reasons why you MUST watch BBC One’s new comedy drama
This Is Going to Hurt episode one review
In episode one, Adam was the most senior doctor on charge and also had to mentor a younger trainee.
He dealt with a racist patient, an imposing boss, and sheer exhaustion.
He worked two shifts back to back, which would be hellish in any job, let alone one dealing in life and death.
More humour was provided when a needy pregnant woman feigned illness to get attention.
When Adam asked her “how many weeks are you?” she answered: “I hate maths.”
She also begged to be seen for her “itchy teeth”.
But within minutes our tears of laughter turned to real tears, when the lady experienced a traumatic childbirth – and nearly died.
Adam had failed to spot she was suffering from pre-eclampsia.
The drama ended in tragedy, something every NHS staff must have experienced.
In fact, Adam Kay has admitted he quit working as a doctor because something very similarly traumatic happened to him…
Topped with an amazing cast – including newcomer Ambika Mod, Alex Jennings as consultant Mr Lockhart, and Motherland’s Phillipa Dunne as receptionist Ria – this is by far the most engaging and rewarding watch we’ve seen in years.
This Is Going to Hurt – what are the critics saying?
Independent critic Ed Cumming says: “Unsurprisingly, given that it’s a memoir adapted by its author, this BBC comedy drama is a sympathetic portrait of an overworked junior registrar on a hospital labour ward.
“Holby City this isn’t, but the same principles apply, in TV and in life…
“The stakes are always high in a hospital.
“When the hurt comes, it is all the more bitter for the sweetness of the highs.”
Carol Midgley at The Times says the “adaptation is just what the doctor ordered”.
She adds: “It is brilliantly paced, written and acted, interspersed with Whishaw’s fourth-wall-breaking pieces to camera, which I thought at first wouldn’t work but absolutely do.
“It’s also a great piece of scheduling because this is just the ticket for wretched, cold February.”
The Telegraph describes the drama as “more or less unimprovable”, while the Evening Standard’s Katie Rosseinsky says: “Kay has described the show as ‘a love letter to the NHS’.
“Thankfully it’s not a soppy Valentine’s card but a deeply nuanced tribute that’s by turns horribly funny, heartbreakingly sad and righteously angry.
“This series, delivered by another institution we often take for granted, deserves to be just as big a hit as his book.”
This Is Going to Hurt continues on Tuesday February 15, 2021 at 9pm on BBC One. It’s available to watch in its entirety on BBC iPlayer.
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