AMC boards BBC’s This is Going to Hurt

US cablenet AMC Networks has boarded BBC2’s adaptation of Adam Kay’s bestselling memoir This is Going to Hurt as a coproducer, with James Bond actor Ben Whishaw cast as the show’s lead.

Piers Wenger

Kay’s memoirs focus on his career as a doctor working in obstetrics and gynaecology and making his way through the ranks of hospital hierarchy.

The book is being adapted as a comedy-drama series of the same title, produced by UK pubcaster the BBC and AMC alongside UK prodcos Sister and Terrible Productions. The international distribution of the series will be handled by BBC Studios.

Kay is adapting his own work for the screen as writer and exec producer on the project. Also exec producing are Naomi de Pear, Jane Featherstone, James Farrell, Mona Qureshi, Kristin Jones and Dan McDermott, with Holly Pullinger producing. Lucy Forbes will direct.

Whishaw, known for portraying Q in the recent James Bond films starring Daniel Craig, will play the TV version of Kay.

Piers Wenger, controller of BBC drama, said: “Not just anyone could evoke the waspish wit, the pathos or the brilliant bloody-mindedness of This is Going to Hurt’s Adam. But thankfully we didn’t just need anyone – we just needed Ben, and it’s a testament to the quality of Adam’s scripts and the expertise of the team at Sister that Ben has agreed to come on board.”