Painful as Hell (TV series)

Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt is a British medical comedy-drama television miniseries based on his memoir of the same name. The BBC and AMC collaborated on the show's production. It follows a group of junior doctors working on an obstetrics and gynecology ward in a National Health Service hospital. It examines the emotional effects of working in a stressful work environment and profiles their professional and personal lives. The story follows Adam Kay (Ben Whishaw) and Shruti Acharya (Ambika Mod) as they work their way up the hospital hierarchy. These characters both break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience. This Is Going to Hurt tells its stories in both comedic and dramatic tones. On February 8, 2022, the seven-part series debuted on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It premiered on AMC in the United States on June 2, 2022. [2]

Premise [ edit ]

This Is Going To Hurt is a fictional adaptation of Adam Kay's book. [3] It is set in London in 2006 and follows a group of junior doctors working on a busy obstetrics and gynecology ward in an NHS hospital. [4][5] It portrays working in obstetrics and gynecology with frank honesty. It thoroughly investigates the emotional effects of working in a hospital on its employees. [3] It investigates the lack of support for junior doctors and how their accomplishments go unnoticed. [6] Throughout the episodes, the personal lives of the junior doctors are also explored. [5]

Characters and cast [ edit ]

Episodes [ edit ]

Production [ edit ]

Development [ edit ]

Sister Pictures announced in September 2017 that it had acquired the television rights to Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt, with Kay serving as writer and executive producer. [17] They won the rights in a twelve-way auction. Along with Kay, Naomi de Pear and Katie Carpenter were named series developers and executive producers. [17] Pear stated at the time that she wanted to create the series because "the NHS is a magnificent beast, and it's imperative that this story be told now." "[17] In June 2018, it was announced that Piers Wenger, BBC controller of drama, commissioned the series for an eight-episode order for the BBC Two channel, with AMC co-producing the series." [18][19] The total number of episodes produced is seven. [5] The series is produced by Sister Pictures, Terrible Productions, BBC Studios, and AMC Studios, with BBC Studios handling international distribution. [3] Episodes 1–4 are directed by Lucy Forbes, and Episodes 5–7 are directed by Tom Kingsley. [19] The BBC has appointed Mona Qureshi as an executive producer. [18] Other executive producers on the project included Jane Featherstone, James Farrell, Kristin Jones, and Dan McDermott, co-president of AMC Studios. [19] In December 2021, the BBC announced that the series would be broadcast on BBC One rather than BBC Two. [18] The show premiered on BBC One in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2022. [1] Each episode has a 45-minute running time. [1]

Soundtrack [ edit ]

Jarvis Cocker's band Jarv Is composed the soundtrack for the show, which they described as "our love song to the NHS." Each episode of the show includes at least one song written by Cocker. [20] In March 2022, the band Jarv Is released a full soundtrack album digitally through the Rough Trade Records label. [21] In October 2022, the album's vinyl edition was released. [22]

Casting [ edit ]

Ben Whishaw will join the cast in the lead role of Adam Kay in June 2020. [6] The networks involved in the project unanimously approved Whishaw's casting. [3] Wenger, the BBC Drama Controller, stated that Whishaw's signing was "a testament to the quality" of the scripts. McDermott, AMC Studios' co-president, was "overjoyed" to secure an "established talent." [3] Ambika Mod agreed to play Shruti Acharya, a junior doctor (SHO) in obstetrics and gynecology, early on. [23][24] In mid-2020, Mod received the first scripts for the role. She recalled how, after reading the first episode, Mod felt as if the role was "meant" for her. [25] The casting for the remaining main roles in the series was announced in June 2021. [23][24] These castings included hospital personnel and Adam's personal relationships. Michele Austin was cast as Tracy, a sharp-witted midwife, Kadiff Kirwan as Julian, Adam's rival work colleague, Ashley McGuire as Vicky Houghton, and Alex Jennings as Adam's boss, consultant Nigel Lockhart. [23][24][8] Rory Fleck Byrne played Adam's boyfriend Harry Muir, Harriet Walter as Adam's mother Veronique, and Tom Durant-Pritchard as his best friend Greg. [23][24]

Michael Workeye revealed in September 2021 that he had shot a role in the series. He described working with Whishaw and Kay as a "dream." [26] In November 2021, Josie Walker publicly revealed her role as Non-Reassuring Trace in the series. [27][8] Other actors who appeared in the film were James Corrigan as Welly and Alice Orr-Ewing as Emma. [9][8] British drag queen The Vivienne makes a cameo appearance as a nightclub bouncer in one episode. [28]

Filming [ edit ]

Principal photography began in February 2021 and concluded in June 2021. [29] Throughout the film, the characters Adam and Shruti both break the fourth wall and address the audience directly with dialogue. [30][25] Exterior hospital scenes were shot at Ealing Hospital.

Reception [ edit ]

A critical response [ edit ]

The series received positive reviews from critics, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting 94% approval over 36 reviews with an average rating of 8. 9 "Ben Whishaw's live-wire performance of an exhausted doctor powers This is Going to Hurt, a smart drama full of humor and pain," the website's critics consensus reads. "[31]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the film a score of 91 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim." [32]

The Radio Times gave the first episode 5/5 stars, with Lauren Morris writing, "the comedy drama impresses with its strong cast, bolstered by the show's soundtrack of mid-noughties earworms,"[33], while Lucy Mangan gave the first episode 4/5 stars for The Guardian. It "pulls no punches in portraying the difficulties of life as a junior medic," according to the author. [34] However, Rachel Cooke of the New Statesman found the characters' "unlikability" to be a "problem." [35]

The Independent's Ed Cumming praised the "good sense" casting of Whishaw in the lead role. [30] Cumming thought it was different from other medical dramas like Holby City. He believed they shared the same principles, namely that "the stakes are always high in a hospital, in TV and in life." [30] The Evening Standard's Katie Rosseinsky liked the "nostalgia in the show's mid-Noughties backdrop." She also praised Whishaw, saying that while the pace of drama is frantic, Whishaw is "such an engaging performer that the whole thing feels effortlessly authentic." [36] She went on to say that while Whishaw is "the anchor in the whirlwind of the ward," the show's ensemble cast is "similarly impressive." [36] Rosseinsky praised Mod for being a "standout in her first major TV role," while Kadiff Kirwan "is enjoyably superior as Adam's peer Julian." [36] The critic concluded that the show is "a deeply nuanced tribute that's horribly funny at times, heartbreakingly sad at others, and righteously angry at others." [36] GQ's Jack King described Shruti's story as one of the show's "most compelling, heart-wrenching subplots." He praised Mod's performance, referring to her as "2022's first bona fide breakout." [25]

Juliet Pearce, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust's director of nursing midwifery, praised the show. She called it "hilarious and heartbreaking," and a "reminder of the human emotions behind every tired, scared, and fallible healthcare professional." [37]Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, praised the series for highlighting the stresses of working in the NHS. [37]

Some viewers thought the series accurately depicted life on a maternity ward, while others thought it was misogynistic. According to Harriet Sherwood for The Guardian, some viewers accused the show of portraying birth as traumatic and women as disempowered, dysfunctional, and reduced to "slabs of meat." [37] Milli Hill, author of The Positive Birth Book and advocate for "alternative" birth methods, accused Adam Kay and the show's creators of sexism. [38] Hill criticized the show for being misogynistic. [37] Some pregnant women reported on social media that their midwives advised them not to watch the show. [37]

Nominations and awards [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

External resources [ edit ]

• IMDb is going to suffer as a result of this.
• This Will Be Harmful at BBC Online