Ben Whishaw is a sad, funny doctor in the This Is Going To Hurt trailer
The acclaimed BBC series is arriving stateside, courtesy of AMC Plus
After premiering in the U.K. earlier this year, the acclaimed BBC miniseries This Is Going To Hurt will be available in the U.S. starting next month, courtesy of AMC+. Starring Ben Whishaw, the show depicts the grueling schedule of a doctor working for the National Health Service.
The official synopsis reads:
The series follows Adam (Whishaw), a doctor who is finding his way through the ranks of hospital hierarchy; junior enough to suffer the crippling hours, but senior enough to face a constant barrage of terrifying responsibilities. Adam is clinging to his personal life as he is increasingly overwhelmed by stresses at work: the 97-hour weeks, the life-and-death decisions, and all the while knowing the hospital parking meter is earning more than him.
Based on the memoir of the same name by Adam Kay, This Is Going To Hurt takes place in 2006 and addresses how overworked healthcare professionals have been long before the pandemic started. The author/doctor also created the show and adapted the screenplay himself.
“I strongly believe that the only honest way to portray life in a hospital is as a comedy-drama,” Kay says in a press release. “Much as a sitcom could never speak to the urgency and tragedy of life on the wards, nor could a straight drama convey the funny and ridiculous situations that pepper every doctor’s day.”
Adam uses a dark sense of humor to cope with the challenging job, with the new trailer almost immediately featuring him describing the obstetrics and gynecology ward as “brats and twats” while breaking the fourth wall. Outside of the hospital, the stresses of work bleed into his relationships with his mother and his boyfriend.
Whishaw is perhaps best known stateside as the voice of Paddington and Q to Daniel Craig’s James Bond. His filmography also includes a season of Fargo and movies like The Lobster and Bright Star.
This Is Going To Hurt co-stars include Ambika Mod, Dame Harriet Walter, Michele Austin, Rory Fleck Byrne, Ashley McGuire, and Alex Jennings. Jarvis Cocker of Pulp fame’s other band Jarv Is… contributed the score.
The seven-episode miniseries premieres on AMC+ on June 2, with one episode being released weekly.