This Is Going To Hurt’s Adam Kay wants more ‘normal, gay, dysfunctional couples’ on TV
Ben Whishaw played Adam Kay in This Is Going To Hurt. (BBC/PinkNews Awards 2022)
This Is Going To Hurt’s Adam Kay has explained his quiet approach to LGBTQ+ representation.
Kay shot to fame with his 2017 memoir about his time as a junior doctor.
It was adapted into a BBC comedy-drama of the same name in 2022, which saw Kay jointly win Best Drama at the PinkNews Awards 2022, along with Jack Rooke for his Channel 4 comedy Big Boys.
This Is Going To Hurt, which starred Ben Whishaw as a fictionalised Adam Kay, was praised for its timely social commentary, and for including a gay couple at its core without having sexuality be the driving force of the story.
Kay said at the PinkNews Awards 2022: “I was really proud of the way This is Going To Hurt had gay representation as part of it. Just a normal, gay, dysfunctional couple.
“The show wasn’t about them being gay, full stop. They were gay in the background as a normal couple and that was on BBC One to millions of people.
“I thought ‘how great we have come this far that this can just be part of mainstream TV.'”
Adam Kay with partner James Farrell at the 2022 PinkNews Awards. (PinkNews)
Speaking at the event, Kay reflected on the realities of being LGBTQ+ in the health service.
“When I started in the NHS it was a bit tough being ‘other’,” he said, “Whatever other meant, but I now speak to medical students and junior doctors starting out. It’s a lot safer.
“Every hospital has a Pride event which just simply wasn’t a thing when I was working. As with a lot of things, it is moving in the right direction but there is always a bit further to go.”
“Sometimes it feels a bit scary at the moment, when you look across the pond at America, you worry that things are going backwards.
My hope is that we remember that love is love and kindness is kindness.”
The PinkNews Awards 2022 is supported by joint headline sponsors Lloyds Banking Group and United Airlines.
