Drama this is going to hurt

[Thomasina79]

I found the book brilliantly funny. I have worked in admin hospitals and primary care, so can relate re cut backs etc.

Anyone else enjoying this drama, if that’s the right word! True to life. Any doctors, nurses etc anyone?

She was a made-up character probably to balance there being no women in the book besides the patients

Shruti isn't in the books.

I read all but 20/30 pages of the book, as I found his character sanctimonious so wasn't sure if id missed her due to me not reading all the book

the tv show I though made him out to be a right arsehole, the book he was just a twat

Agree that the comment is homophobic. Some men are sexist, and some of the sexist men are gay.

I did find Kay’s book to be anti women.

@ivykaty44

I read all but 20/30 pages of the book, as I found his character sanctimonious so wasn't sure if id missed her due to me not reading all the book

the tv show I though made him out to be a right arsehole, the book he was just a twat

So the BBC adaptation is worse than the book?

Thats not a great look for the BBC if thats the case...

@80sballetgirl

I’m still chuckling at “brats & twats” 😂😂

Is that funny?

I have read the book and watched the series and found both really interesting. The book is definitely more nuanced as someone else said.

Personally having had 3 c-sections around the time the book is set the care and treatment I received from the doctors was really good. The female midwifes - well not so much.

I think it raised valid points about a broken system. Was discussing it with friend at the weekend who is a senior consultant now and she had been v wary of reading the book as knew the type of humour that doctors use amongst themselves would not play well with the general public.

I think @Scrunchies got a really hard time on here. She was being honest and admitted remorse. Lordy, I am not at my best when sleep deprived so can see how this would make people snappy at the very least.

I think it is pretty clear that in the program Adam has many, many flaws. The character is written to show this very clearly. The flaws are highlighted explicitly by another character at a key moment in the series. But it also shows the immense pressure everyone is under and the toxic, destructive culture everyone is working in, where kindness is rare and bullying and competition with peers is rife. He seemed particularly unsuited to cope with this environment because of his pride / arrogance and inability to let people in. I thought in later episodes, there were instances of colleagues being supportive at moments where Adam stopped being so aggressive to others. But his arrogance / aggression seemed the (maladaptive) way he coped with the demands of the job.

I imagine, as the writer or producer on the program, Adam Kay was central in deciding how his character was portrayed. It seems to me that he is probably very aware of his failings as a doctor and partner.

80sballetgirl
I’m still chuckling at “brats & twats” 😂😂

Is that funny?

Only if we apply it to the doctors who use it vs the patients they denigrate.

@drpet49

I don’t like Ben Whishaw. Just find him so boring and drab

He speaks very highly of you.

I don't think the TV show is misogynistic

It portrays Adam as a bit of a knob. It's clear that he has a lot of flaws and we aren't always supposed to like him or support him. I think it's quite a good portrayal of someone who comes into medicine thinking they are gods gift and learns quickly they are not.

This is clear when the female midwife complains about him to the GMC, she highlights all his problems and I think it's quite a sobering moment. We don't think she is the one in the wrong for making that complaint. We don't think he is in the right for editing the notes, and this comes back to haunt him.

He does also offer good care, he shows a lot of empathy towards the elderly woman under his care. And it's clear he gets very burnt out and overwhelmed.

It also portrays my experience of being a junior doctor really well. The overwhelming numbers of patients and absolutely no time to see them, feeling so burnt out and desperately trying to keep up the right empathy for patients. I have never said anything like a ball of cells as shruti did, but for me I found that scene quite scary as I have been in a position where its very hard to communicate I would say appropriately with the patient because I am so exhausted, and it's quite horrifying to think that could have been you.

Making inappropriate referrals to other specialities, taking the flack for senior decisions. Poor support from senior colleagues. Feeling way out of your depth and overwhelmed but having no option but to carry on. Working 24hr shifts on call because the night sho didn't turn up

I don't think its fair to say NHS staff have done nothing about this, I and many of my colleagues are and have consistently raised issues about staffing, patient safety but it falls on deaf ears.

Just want to point out that Adam's consultant told him to lie about what actually happened with the phone-call in his notes and then back-tracked when it became a formal complaint to the GMC.

He knew Adam hadn't had any sleep and would be doing back-to-back shifts but pressurised him to come in because he didn't want to do it himself. If Adam hadn't gone back, Shruti would have been the only doctor in charge of the ward AND A&E emergency admissions, having done only one Caesarean previously - thanks to Adam. And that was elective, not an emergency.

'Mist's' mum had to be portrayed as on the dim side, because some patients are, and the fact he had met her before in A&E when she faked a faint and complained about her taste buds and her itchy teeth - when others needed his attention more - is relevant to him telling Shruti to discharge her. Yes - in an ideal world he'd have had the time to identify her as a worried patient and get counselling for her. But we saw what happened when he tried to get help for the teenager who had mutilated her labia.

I don't think any of this is in the book? In rl, he left the NHS after a particularly harrowing double fatality, which everyone told him was not his fault, but which tipped him over the edge.

Agree that the BBC trailers were v misleading. Don't know if Adam had any control over them.

Why does a female patient need to be portrayed as dim to explain drs dismissing her? In reality women are routinely not listened to and dismissed regardless

Honestly, I found it hard to watch. Adam's character is so unlikeable. He hates his mum but displays her worst qualities. Yes his work is hard but he does nothing to bring his colleagues on side, thus making it harder.

Read the book and fell in love with him. Lots of people are saying that it's nasty and he has no empathy. I disagree.

@airbalonz

Because in real life, patients come in all shapes and sizes, whatever their sex? Communication can be a problem? With Mist's mother, who tried to work out how many weeks old she was, and the Eastern European husband who struggled to comprehend what Adam was doing to his wife because he didn't speak English? Or 'Dr Einstein' who had Alzheimer's and liked to spend her days visiting other patients and telling them their leg needed to be amputated?

Seriously, this is like having a go at Dumbo because it wasn't a documentary about banning circuses. Step away from the pitchfork.

Loved the books. Hated the series m.

Anyone else think the show doesn't capture the joy, just the misery? The 12h shifts were followed by all nighters. We had a blast. It was a balance of work v hard/play v hard.

I work in the NHS ICU and absolutely love this programme. Some maybe shocked by bits of it but a lot of it rings true. You'd be appalled at the abuse I get from relatives. I had one guy threated to rape me if I didn't let him see his GF , who was unconscious and wired to several machines. The Police were waiting for him just the other side of the door. The reason she was in ICU was he had beaten her up with a Base Ball bat. She made it and he's doing 10 years in Parkhurst. Just another day at the coal face.

Loving this series. Read the book few years ago and love Adam's sense of humour.
Ben Wishaw is brilliant. The one-liners are class.