Emotional BBC drama This Is Going To Hurt wrapped up last night (March 22) after taking viewers on the rollercoaster of emotions working for the NHS entails. Based on former junior doctor Adam Kay's memoir, This Is Going To Hurt has been praised by those who work for the NHS and their loved ones for the realistic depiction of working in the public healthcare sector.
And perhaps one of the reasons why the programme has returned rave reviews from NHS workers is that they were heavily involved in the production of the show, which was filmed in the first half of 2021. Ahead of the final episode airing yesterday, Ben Hough, a senior development producer at the BBC, shared some candid behind the scenes snaps from filming.
Ben revealed the extent to which NHS workers were involved in the production of This Is Going To Hurt. He wrote on Twitter: "As #ThisIsGoingToHurt comes to an end tonight, here’s a celebration of a huge part of the show: the dozens of real NHS medics who helped make it.
"They’re all absolute heroes. They’re why it looks so real, and most of them are also in the show!"
The producer revealed that Nicki Roberts, an obstetrics and gynaecology consultant, did 'so much' during filming, but one part really stood out to him. Ben said: "Remember in Ep 6 when Shruti takes charge to save the patient from the private hospital? It’s cos of Nicki that it looks so slick and real! Here she is ready for her cameo as a nurse."
Specialist registrar Sebastian Kaupp-Roberts, who works at Homerton University Hospital in London, served multiple roles on set. Ben said: "Remember those gory surgery shots during the emergency at the end of Ep 1? Seb was Ben Whishaw’s suturing hand double.
"Seb was a hero (and style icon) on set. He also threw on a costume and stood in for a patient’s husband."
Prior to filming, Dr Ruth MacSwan taught Ben Whishaw and Ambika Mod the basics of obstetrics and gynaecology. According to Ben, Ruth, Nicki, and Seb were the 'core trio' of O&G advisors on set, teaching the cast how to do operations, including caesarean sections.
Many of the surgeries in the show look real because scrub nurses were on set, next to the actors. Glorence Santos, Ben said, is in most of the surgery scenes and helped the production team find all the right instruments, right down 'to the very last suture'.
Professor Ann John specialises in suicide and self-harm prevention, and is a former junior doctor and GP. The Samaritans put the This Is Going To Hurt team in touch with her, to make sure that Shruti's story was 'handled with as much care and sensitivity as possible', Ben says.
There was also a full-circle moment on set, too. The real Adam Kay's consultant when he was a doctor, Roger Marwood, helped the production team to understand and prepare for all the medical detail before the cameras started rolling.
After six years of training and another six years of working on the wards, Adam resigned as a junior doctor back in 2010. His resignation came after a heartbreaking tragedy involving the preventable death of a baby.
It was suggested to Adam that he started writing a reflective diary, which immortalised his experience on the wards when it was published as a hit book. Although a lot of the plot lines featured in the drama happened in real life, many of them were expanded on, with some characters created specifically for the series.
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