Thread by @kingsley_tom

If you watched tonight’s stressful episode of This is Going to Hurt, here’s a behind the scenes 🧵 about it (I directed eps 5+6+7):

1/10: The set was so detailed you could pick up any folder in the back of shot, and it’d be filled with notes written by our medical advisors

Our script editor compiled a 90-page medical bible, containing things like links to real caesarean operations that you can watch on YouTube but I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO NOT. Here are some of the notes for the catheter scene:

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 2/11

And here’s the art department testing the optimum urine flow for that catheter scene. Adam Kay and the medical advisors gave us a Pantone Colour reference for the correct shade of urine

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 3/11

The blood mixing jug was temporarily repurposed as the fake semen jug. We recommend a lube called SPUNK, which is “a creamy water and silicone blend that looks and feels like your own load.” £12.99 on eBay

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 4/11

During filming, the background actors mime so that we get clean audio of the main actors. But instead of editing in stock hospital audio afterwards, we did special sound recordings of the cast improvising on set - like in this A&E scene

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 5/11

The scrubs machine in the locker room is real, but the scrubs aren’t: they were specially made by our costume department so we wouldn’t deprive the NHS of actual scrubs

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 6/11

Episode 5 ramps up the mental pressure on Adam and Shruti, and we partly evoked that with increasingly surreal visuals. Here’s a test for a strange moment at the Bethnal Green Working Mens’ Club. It’s just a simple cut, with no VFX

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 7/11

I got carried away filming weird stuff for this episode, so we deleted a lot of dreamy bits in the edit because they made Adam’s story feel less real and uncomfortable than it should. Still, here's deleted footage of one of my most indulgent ideas

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 8/11

This is what was going on outside the windows during the miserable taxi scene. Ben and Rory were brilliant, especially since we kept being stopped at traffic lights at different times on each take

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 9/11

Even if we don't agree on how to spell his name, most people still agree that Ben Wichaw is one of the finest actors working today

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 10/11

#ThisIsGoingToHurt 11/11 - I’ll do another thread of behind-the-scenes trivia after ep7. Meanwhile, here’s the official playlist of the music in the series
open.spotify.com/playlist/0cKbH…