Former doctor’s best-selling book, This is Going to Hurt, is being adapted for TV

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26th Aug 2019

Fans of former junior doctor, Adam Kay’s 2017 novel, This Going to hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, rejoice — the BBC has announced Kay is turning his best-selling, award-winning account of his time on the medical wards into a eight-part dramedy for BBC Two.

For those unfamiliar with the story, former doctor-turned-author, Kay, offers a candid, raw, funny, exhausting, searing inside look at his life as a junior doctor working in Britain’s public health system, the National Health Service (NHS).

Kay reportedly made diary entries during his time as a doctor from 2004 until 2010, when an event occurred on one of the wards that saw him ultimately resign and leave medical practice for good. 

The book makes compelling reading for a number of reasons, including Kay’s witty writing style, and the revelations about what it was really like for him as a real-life junior doctor — the endless crushing hours, the missed social opportunities, the bodily fluids — as opposed to the romanticised ideal we all have from watching popular medical TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and ‘90s/aughts hit, ER. How many fans fell in love with George Clooney as Dr Doug Ross on ER or Patrick Dempsey’s “McDreamy” on Grey’s Anatomy? But, the reality, as revealed by Kay’s honest account, is that a junior doctor has no life outside their job and would certainly never be available to go on dates. 

It was also a page-turner because of the insight it provided into the conditions for doctors in the NHS. Kay was reportedly motivated to turn his diary notes into a book around 2015 when a number of junior doctors were in contract disputes with the NHS, prompting the British Health and Social Care Secretary at the time, Jeremy Hunt, to reportedly hint that junior doctors were “lazy”. Kay said he wanted to give those doctors a voice.

“Junior doctors tend to have a rather quiet voice compared to the politicians, which is understandable—you don’t have much spare time if you’re working 100 hour weeks,” Kay told the BBC. The author further reportedly added that he’s thrilled such a wide audience has read his diaries and now it will reach an even bigger audience. “It’s been a huge privilege to have my diaries reach so many readers and it’s been humbling to see their reaction. I’m beyond delighted to now be able to share my story with a far wider audience and make the viewers of BBC Two laugh, cry and vomit.”

According to the BBC, Kay is adapting the series, which will be produced by Sister Pictures for BBC Two. No casting details or other production details are available as yet.