This is Going to Hurt - starts 8th Feb

[ouch321]

I loved the book of this by Adam Kay. I know others weren't so keen.
BBC has dramatised this and starts in early Feb. Just a heads up for others who liked the book.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Ah right,thanks. Should've been. Described as darkly comic. There were bits I properly laughed out loud at and I rarely do that,along with bits I got really teary over.

Agree

Which I think makes good tv

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Ah right,thanks. Should've been. Described as darkly comic. There were bits I properly laughed out loud at and I rarely do that,along with bits I got really teary over.

Agree with this.

There were some fantastic lines that just creased me up (when Adam asked if the name Mist had a meaning, and his mum said "It does actually, it's a kind of rain"), as well as some achingly upsetting scenes.

Also, "How many weeks are you?" Brilliant

I'm watched ep6 last night. So very sad.
I think it's been a great, if horrific, series (I loved the first book).
I thought the incident with the private hospital was interesting. It rang so true, that going private is great for the comforts (and speed) but when anything goes wrong the NHS swoops in to sort it out.

My absolute favourite line of the series so far is when the dr asks Shruti how she knew the male patient wasn't an hermaphrodite and she replies "the same way I know he's not a kestrel"

If I were Adam Kay's mother I would be horrified and sad at the depiction of Ben's mother in the tv series.

I have seen up to and including Episode 3.

Yes - so would any normal person. But if you really were Adam Kay's mother, what you'd be horrified and sad about was the fact that your son was gay. You'd refuse to believe he was serious and treat his partner and his mother with disdain. And a crashing snob who wanted him to make a career in private medicine. Tbf most of this comes later.

Re humour, I know pps didn't like it, but 'wearing his wife like a glove puppet' made me laugh out loud, and didn't take anything away from the care he showed in treating a patient in a life or death emergency.

Talking of who can be an astronaut, I had the pleasure of hearing
Jose Hernandez talk about how he went from a working class background- parents were migrant fruit pickers so they all followed the harvests around California which meant he got moved from school to school. He spoke about how his parents really valued education and were quite strict making sure he got his work done before he helped them in their work ( which developed his work ethic) but he mainly spoke of the mindset that you have to develop. You have to believe you can do it and that belief is nurtured in you by mainly your parents, maybe a teacher who sees your potential.He was also just really good at math as a kid and the teacher noticed that and encouraged him. He also said it is important to enjoy the journey as you try to get to a big goal. I screen shot the strategy he shared below as I thought it was valuable information.
He was the first Latino astronaut for NASA and now he helps his dad run the vinyard they bought with the proceeds. His five kids missed him having to be in Russia for long training sessions pre-flight and he wanted to be more available to them than his own parents had been. Incredible job but similar problems that many of us face with demanding high responsibility jobs- they take up a lot of time so take you away from your family. So he ultimatley did the NASA thing for a chunk of his life but now in hos 50s he seeks out time with his family as a priority- the very thing that I would say the working class are generally more likley to prioritize over career success on some level- I certainly see that in my own family. Those who got an education moved away from home towns to pursue opportunities and so spent less of their spare time around their families. Now who knows if that is a good thing generally for society? I got educated and was willing to be geographically mobile for job prospects and it took us 1000s of miles from family such that we go years not seeing family and now they are old and sadly starting to die one by one.
I appreciate the better lifestyle our decisions have enabled us to get but I have missed family so much over the years and who knows whether the gains I have gained justify the sacrifice-they will pay off for our kids but then our kids have not enjoyed their grandparents in the way many of my home town childhood friends have pulled off. It depends on what means more to you and I respect people choosing to stay near family and forgo career opportunities- you could say they value relationships more than career and material success.

This is his book and his advice to young people which I screen shot from his talk. The astronaut realised his dream and then he set about using the wealth saved to be around his family and no doubt h=give his parents an easier life in their old age, admirable in my book- all of it.

wrong thread ignore!!

I think the problem with basing something on something else, despite the writer being the source for both, is the blurring of fact and fiction.
So the fictional AK in this may come across as more of a twunt than the real-life AK or vice versa
So you have Adam Kay keep his name as the main character.
His fictional Mum is Veronique.
His Mum in real life is Naomi.
It may be that both his parents were disappointed at him giving up his job at the time. It may be that him being gay was deemed a phase in a Jewish household. It may be that going to a boarding school (if he boarded) meant a more formal relationship. We do not know. The real-life AK kept that private - it will be interesting whether his follow-up memoir in the Autumn sheds more light on his life in general.
But the fictional Veronique and real life Naomi may be worlds away from each other, embellished for good drama or a composite character.
If I were his Mum, I would have preferred him to have had a different character name altogether or for Veronique to have been his stepmum or something more removed than me. It comes down to not knowing what is his lived experience and what has been made up for telly.
He will not be the first or last to fall foul of this blurring of realities - iirc Simon Amstell hurt his real-life aunt when she saw Grandma's House. Although the character of Liz was based on a few different people with fictionalised elements, she was upset (although may have been upset with him even before the portrayal).
Have just finished bingeing Feud, and the real-life Olivia de Havilland had issues with words being put into her mouth.
As Run DMC would say, it's tricky.
I would be sulking though and wanting to put things right in an interview, but clearly Naomi Kay is classier than me or understands that drama needs an antagonist.

Six episodes in and I think it's startlingly good. Black humour, grim reality, and character development where we are shown nuanced, real people (obviously exaggerated for TV) rather than being told what to think.
It's not an easy watch but I think it's brilliant.

It's also got a really good soundtrack!

I binge watched this and fully expected to hate it based on some of the comments here. I wondered at times if I was watching the same program as I loved it.

Adam's character is deeply flawed and not very pleasant but it was obvious that he cared. Watching him sit by the incubator talking to Mist made me well up. He was haunted by that mistake, and that's the thing about medicine a mistake however small can cost someone's life. That's a huge burden.

I hadn't read the books before watching so maybe that helped me like it but I will now, in fact I read TTNBC yesterday and really enjoyed it. There's actually a bit in that book where he talks about an SHO referring to someone miscarrying as "just a six weeker" and how no pregnancy is "just" an anything as it's no less of a pregnancy for the patient.

I was also surprised to read that Adam Kay is an ambassador for Lullaby Trust a charity supporting bereaved families and has raised over £300,000, mostly from his tours. I'd say that he must still feel connected to the terrible trauma and sadness that he was part of whilst practising medicine.

Isn't part of the point of the book and TV adaptation that the NHS is misogynist? and skewed towards white, upper-middle class men. And that this brutal, inefficient hierarchy just smears the bulllying through its staff, which then spills onto their treatment of patients. Even the female consultant bullies her junior (Adam) by sneering at his posh voice, while missing an opportunity to help her other junior (Shruti) when she cocks up massively in the OP clinic. We all want to love the NHS (and I do believe that its existence shows that we believe that the welfare of everyone should matter) but - and this is going to hurt - it reflects all the crap as well as the good stuff.

@BigSkies22

Isn't part of the point of the book and TV adaptation that the NHS is misogynist? and skewed towards white, upper-middle class men. And that this brutal, inefficient hierarchy just smears the bulllying through its staff, which then spills onto their treatment of patients. Even the female consultant bullies her junior (Adam) by sneering at his posh voice, while missing an opportunity to help her other junior (Shruti) when she cocks up massively in the OP clinic. We all want to love the NHS (and I do believe that its existence shows that we believe that the welfare of everyone should matter) but - and this is going to hurt - it reflects all the crap as well as the good stuff.

I agree. The female consultant was awful!

I found some of it true to life, as a junior doctor from 1995!?! But what it missed is the support we gave each other which is the reason we survived the hours and the chaos.
And the way he behaved towards his partner was vile.

'thought the incident with the private hospital was interesting. It rang so true, that going private is great for the comforts (and speed) but when anything goes wrong the NHS swoops in to sort it out.'

Yes I thought that was very apt. Many people having private treatment really do seem to rate carpets and cups and saucers over having medical staff and emergency equipment on site and readily available.

I've watched the whole series and thought Kay was a wet, self absorbed arsehole. Totally incompatible with the very likeable Harry.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=iyqZRWIL0wA

There are a few of these - a doctor reacts to the programme. It’s interesting (and reassuring!) to see their take on patient interactions etc.

I absolutely loved it and binge watched it. Ben Whishaw was brilliant.

Read the book a few years ago. Think I sussed H was a man eventually but not right at the start. I didn't see it as misogynistic piece of work but the thoughts of a jaded, worn out doctor who would see faults and complaints in any department he worked in. He knew the fault was within himself and that is why he left. He wasn't good enough for the job and called it. I liked and admired his honesty. Plus I think we have a natural morbid curiosity of most interesting and disgusting cases.

Just listened to the audiobook again and still enjoyed it. Also went to the stage show last year and he didn't pick on anyone in the audience.

I was an NHS clinician for nearly 20 years and I am so glad that this series exists. The public need to know that it's not all warm fuzzies and superheroes and angels. The area I worked in was nowhere near as stressful and high powered as obstetric surgery and yet I could relate to so much of it - never enough staff, never enough of anything, feeling like even if you worked 24 hours a day until the end of your life you would never get on top of things. It's bloody brutal

It was extremely well written and very very funny, but there were huge shifts in tone that were handled seamlessly. The last 2 episodes had some pretty devastating moments. I thought it was just great

I am up to episode 5. I haven’t read the book nor really noticed Adam Kay in anything else he has done so have no opinion on him.

The series I find is realistic. The characters I have met in some shape or form over the years. Have met many consultants like Lockhart. Been forced to attend equally pointless “training”. Seen the same themes go in and out of “fashion” as the next batch of right-on pen pushers who’ve never seen the business end of a vulnerable patient try and make their mark.

Have seen good people get crushed by the hours and responsibility and many people promoted way out of their capability. Some stuff has improved in recent years, but the male-led hierarchy never dies.

Just seen last nights e4. Was very good. Tense watching with baby and mum

The penny engagement ring pmsl

Harry is lovely 🥰

@VenezuelaChant

Harry is lovely 🥰

I'm in love with Harry so much!

I watched up to episode 6 thinking that was the last one but then dd told me there is one more. I think I'll leave it a few days before watching that one as I felt quite subdued after watching 3 in a row.

That’s why I like to watch stuff weekly

To take things in