This Is Going To Hurt: Scalpels and laughs… it’s just another day at the orifice for Ben Whishaw

Actors often have to work on their delivery when it comes to the role they’re playing.

For Ben Whishaw, who is playing a doctor on a labour ward as part of new seven-part adaptation This Is Going To Hurt, delivery is precisely where he focused.

“We’ve learned how to do Caesareans,” he said, talking about the training he received in order to play a medic. “I had no idea that it was as basic a process as it is.

“You literally take a scalpel and slice through the flesh, then you put your hands in and pull the muscles apart, and then shove your fist in and grab the baby.”

The darkly comedic on-screen labour ward is taken from real-life doctor Adam Kay’s multi-million-selling memoir, which Whishaw hadn’t heard of before agreeing to take the role.

After making up for lost time with the source material, Whishaw had an “extraordinary” experience of researching the world of obstetrics and gynaecology.

Aided by three on-set medical advisers, a “few afternoons” of hands-on training prepped the cast for filming.

Dubbed a “love letter to the NHS” by Kay and Whishaw, the series was born out of Kay’s hilarious diary entries, scrawled between endless overtime shifts and sleepless nights during his stint as a junior doctor. “A lot of the humour that’s in the show is drawn directly from real-life stuff that happened to Adam,” said Whishaw.

“And to a degree, a lot of the jokes are Adam’s way of coping, I suppose, with the pressures of being a doctor.

“I had no idea, really, of the pressures that these people are under.”

Immersing himself in a world laden with prosthetics capable of inducing a “very visceral reaction”, the star recounts a number of memorable scenes.

“Some of the funniest ones have been in the gynaecology ward, having to remove various items from various orifices,” said Whishaw. “They’ve been very funny.”

And while Whishaw says he hopes viewers find themselves thoroughly entertained by the series, he’s quick to highlight the show’s “really serious agenda”.

“We’ve all been more aware than normal, probably, of just how much we owe to the people who work for the NHS,” he added.

“I think we’re all still reeling from the last couple of years, but certainly I feel like, in making the show, there’s a real sense of purpose among the cast and crew and everyone.

“This feels like something important to do.”

This Is Going To Hurt, BBC1, Tuesday, 9pm