“How was work?”

When you’ve had the worst day imaginable, it’s the last thing you want to answer – let alone think about.

It’s also the question that crops up a couple of times throughout the second episode of This Is Going To Hurt, and it really got us thinking.

As Adam (played by Ben Whishaw) reckons with the fallout from the previous episode – the emergency C-section, the exhaustion, the consequences of making a mistake as a junior doctor – the pleasantry that is often used in the nicest way possible, suddenly becomes something both Adam (and the viewer) begin to dread. 

When your mind has been racing with thoughts of failure, anxiety and angst – sometimes even the thought of answering a question about work can send you into a tailspin. It’s something that we’ve all experienced – no matter the job – and is one of the starkly realistic things to love about this second episode of Adam Kay’s BBC adaptation.

The entirety of this second episode feels like Adam is much like a car that needs a hard jumpstart. He keeps starting, stopping, flailing and, realistically, he needs to call out for help – but this is the hardnosed junior doctor that thinks he knows better than his peers. He won’t do that.

Instead, we see him take ultra-precautionary measures. He orders scans for symptoms that don’t need them, he performs biopsies when other doctors wouldn’t even think to do so and, all the while, the only thing on his mind is the premature baby that almost died at the end of the premiere episode.

The baby follows him around – in his dreams, his every thought, in each patient and even, in one particularly graphic scene, his fridge. Although Adam’s been checking in on the baby, his mind just refuses to rest. 

It’s the thing we’re all guilty of, even more so now with working from home being something many people do: the inability to separate your work and home life.

We’re in an age where, increasingly, we all struggle to separate who we are from the work we do. While each industry and workplace has its own dynamics, This Is Going To Hurt showcases how, when you’re a fledgling doctor trying to make a name for yourself, there is no separation.

Adam is a doctor and his personal life comes second to the patients and events at the hospital.

He may come home to a doting partner, dinner parties, friends and a pretty nice home life but his mind constantly whirs with thoughts of work. It’s something that makes watching this series so engrossing and exhausting in equal measure.  

As we watch Adam try to be there for his partner, conversations of work are never but a few sentences away. The C-section is clearly the elephant in the room of any situation he finds himself in throughout this episode and while Adam is already a particularly grumpy character, he’s especially mean to Shruti (Ambika Mod) and she’s forced to take the brunt of his continued workplace anxiety measures.

Shruti herself is an embodiment of someone junior that is merely mirroring the actions of her more senior partner. Adam never switches off so Shruti never does either. It’s a workplace cycle that isn’t exclusive to the medical field – but makes for some insightful NHS commentary.  

While this is a series all about the tiring work of NHS doctors and nurses, it’s also already doing a great job of weaving in subtle plotlines that will strike a chord with many viewers.

If there was ever a sign to perhaps enforce some workplace boundaries (or take a well-deserved break) then maybe this second episode of This Is Going To Hurt will push you to do just that. 

The second episode of This Is Going To Hurt airs tonight at 9pm on BBC One. The series is also available to watch on BBC iPlayer now. 

Images: BBC