This Is Going to Hurt director ‘gruelling’ filming schedule

This Is Going to Hurt and The English are leading the BAFTA Craft Awards this year with four nominations each.

Express.co.uk recently had the chance to speak to the show’s director Lucy Forbes, who revealed all of Ben Whishaw’s surgery scenes were filmed in one gruelling week.

“All the surgery scenes were challenging!” Forbes said. “We decided to film them all in one run which we referred to as ‘operation week’.”

Throughout the series, Whishaw endures a fictionalised version of writer Adam Kay’s toughest moments on an obstetrics and gynaecology ward in an NHS hospital.

Featuring some of the most gruesomely detailed surgery scenes in TV history, the cast found themselves drenched in fake blood at several points during filming.

READ MORE: This is Going to Hurt star shares why Ben Whishaw apologised to her

“There was blood, sweat and literal tears,” the director confirmed.

“They were incredibly complicated sets ups, with blood pumps and multilayered prosthetics that the actors could cut through as if they were doing a real caesarean.

“Real babies and fake babies, special operation tables to hide actresses’ unpregnant bodies under and huge amounts of medical jargon to understand and get our heads round.”

Thankfully, Forbes and the team had an array of professionals, including former doctor and author Kay, to ensure the key scenes were true to life.

“Lucky for us, we had Adam on speed dial and three incredibly experienced Obs and Gynae Doctors on set to talk us through every incision, stitch and blood squirt to make sure we got it right,” she recalled.

“The most important thing for us was that we made it feel real, that it was and technically correct.

“It was a huge effort across all departments and a great achievement to everyone involved that we managed to pull it off.”

The acclaimed drama based on Kay’s bestselling book is nominated for Best Writer, Best Director, Best Scripted Casting and Best Editing at this year’s BAFTA Craft Awards, taking place this Sunday.

Whishaw has also picked up a nomination for Best Actor and the series as a whole has been nominated for Best Mini-Series at the BAFTAs, which will take place on May 14.

The series is unlikely to return for a second season, although Kay confirmed he has some exciting new projects in the pipeline.

“I try to keep my work interesting by alternating between writing books, writing TV and performing live,” he told Express.co.uk.

“I’ve just handed in another kid’s book and I’m now working on a TV show that I think I get sued if I talk about.”

He most recently released Kay’s Brilliant Brains for World Book Day this year, and also curated and edited last year’s short story collection Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You.

This Is Going to Hurt is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.