Television series
This is Going to Hurt
Ben Whishaw is a junior doctor in the NHS, caught between impossible hours and impossible choices. This is tender, furious, and very funny—it finds absurdity in bureaucracy without losing sight of real suffering. For anyone who's worked a job that demanded everything and offered little back.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like comedy that stays close to exhaustion and fear, where the jokes come from people doing their jobs badly at 3am and the writing never flinches from the cost.
Skip it if you want a tidy medical drama with clear wins and gleaming operating theatres; this one is messy, bleak in stretches, and built around the grind rather than the heroics.
What it asks of you: Seven episodes of about 45 minutes each, so it is a short binge, but it demands your full attention as the mood swings quickly from gallows humour to something quieter and heavier.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Casualty1986
The granddaddy of hospital dramas. Long-running, ensemble-driven, genuinely gripping about emergency medicine. It treats the work and the people who do it with respect.
But Forty years of accumulated mythology means new viewers can feel lost. It's more procedural than character-focused, which some find dry.
Hospital2017
Documentary series following real doctors, patients, and ethical dilemmas in a London hospital. Unscripted but shaped with care. This is the actual job, no softening.
But No narrative arc, no character resolution. Some episodes are genuinely distressing to watch and offer no catharsis.
Scrubs2001
Comedy about junior doctors finding friendship and purpose in chaos. It balances genuine warmth with sharp jokes about medicine, mortality, and growing up fast.
But Shifts tone wildly across seasons. Later series lose focus and lean too hard on sentimentality. American hospital, different pressures.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from This is Going to Hurt
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Night Shift2014
Both examine how institutions grind down good people through impossible hours and impossible choices, but *The Night Shift* explores this under conditions of active conflict rather than bureaucratic attrition.
Follows emergency doctors on the night shift in Iraq and a US combat hospital. Same pressures as *This Is Going to Hurt*—exhaustion, moral weight, dark humour—but in a war zone. Transforms the setting entirely while keeping the core truth.
But Combat medical drama. Some find the military context distracting or uncomfortable, even when the show itself is critical of war.
More like this (6)
The Good Doctor2017
Follows a surgeon with autism navigating a teaching hospital. Character-driven, medically rigorous, and surprisingly moving about disability and belonging.
But The melodrama accumulates. Character arcs repeat. It asks a lot of your patience over many seasons.
Doctors2000
British soap about a GP practice. Lighter than *This Is Going to Hurt*, but sharp about NHS realities, community medicine, and how GPs actually work.
But It's a daytime soap. Fast-paced, episode-heavy, designed for casual viewing rather than deep narrative investment.
Code Blue: The Movie2018
South Korean emergency room drama. Tense, brilliantly shot, focused on trauma and the split-second decisions that save or end lives. Medicine across cultural lines.
But Subtitles. Pacing is relentless—some find it exhausting rather than gripping. Darker than you might expect.
The Resident2018
Medical thriller with Matt Czuchry. Less about procedure than about corruption, ethics, and doctors fighting institutional dysfunction. Angrier in tone.
But The plots can feel manufactured to create outrage. Character development takes a back seat to weekly scandal.
Grey's Anatomy2005
Twenty years in, still a cultural touchstone. It understands that hospital work is as much about who you are becoming as what you're saving. Surgical brilliance and personal disaster intertwined.
But Longevity has its costs. Later seasons rely on shock deaths and recycled conflicts. The tone can feel soapy rather than grounded.
ER1994
The 1990s classic that defined the medical drama. Rapid-fire, ensemble-driven, genuinely exciting. Shows how institutional pressure warps good people.
But Fifteen seasons is a commitment. Early episodes are thrilling; later ones meander. The pacing can feel dated.
People
Cast
Production
- Adam KayExecutive Producer
- Ben WhishawExecutive Producer
- Dan McDermottExecutive Producer
- James FarrellExecutive Producer
- Jane FeatherstoneExecutive Producer
- Kristin JonesExecutive Producer
- Mona QureshiExecutive Producer
- Naomi de PearExecutive Producer
- Holly PullingerProducer