Hi, everyone and welcome back to 酒馆. Hi安澜.

Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.

You noticed that I didn't say welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope?

Yeah. I did notice that, it was a bit strange.

Because today we are actually going to do TV picks.

Oh. Goody.

Yeah. Just wait for it. It's not a fun TV.

Oh.

Yeah, in fact, it's a really, really, really depressing TV show.

What is it about you and choosing really depressing TV shows for us to talk about?

Well. It is a British TV show.

Okay.

Most of your TV shows can get really depressing.

所以今天是一个特别的【荐剧板块】, 我相信, 这个英剧安澜也看过, 因为我原来跟他讨论过。And the name of this TV show this TV series is “This is Going to Hurt”.

Yes, I have seen that before. So it is a comedy, but it's also a tragedy, and it's also a drama as well.

嗯嗯, 这个中文译名叫做《疼痛难免》。其实我在星期四星期五直播间,就是【看剧解梗】这个环节分享过一集, although it's a really depressing TV show, but I think it's a really good one and the stories behind it and then the issues that it talks about, I thought it's worth a couple of episodes for us to talk about.

Yeah, absolutely.

So in our previous episodes, we have talked a bit about the NHS, but we haven't really talked about the NHS now, like some of the pressures that doctors go through. And this is essentially the main theme of this TV show.

So previously we gave you guys an introduction like a brief introduction of the British medical system, health care system called NHS.英国的一个医疗体系叫National Health Services or Service？

Service.

Service.

就是大家都听过英国的公费医疗就是全民免费医疗,对吧？It sounds like dream come true, sounds great on paper. It sounds great in theory.

But in fact, there are so many problems. There are so many challenges as you can imagine.

Yes. So I won't go too much into the NHS, because we have discussed it before, but it's important to note that the NHS was founded on the principle that healthcare is free. And you can see a doctor, you can get medical treatment quickly, efficiently, and most importantly, completely free of charge.

Just remind me again, it is completely free.

In the UK, it is more or less completely free, prescriptions you need to pay, I think it's around ￡7, but it could have been increased.

Like a nominal charge.

It is a nominal charge.

Prescription就是开药的话, 大概会有一个nominal charge, 就是有一个名义上的费用,象征性的收费.

But other things like surgeries and doctor consultations, these are completely free.

Those are complete free. The only thing that people often have to pay for is dentistry.

Fixing your teeth. Mhm.

Yeah.

Okay. Since it's about TV pics, let's dive into the series. It's a really really short TV series. It's only 7 episodes.

Yeah. It's only 7 episodes. And it was released in 2022.

Okay.

Even though it's only 7 episodes. It's still got 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

对于特别喜欢看剧、看电影的小伙伴, 应该都听过 Rotten tomatoes就是烂番茄.

我们也经常会用IMDb和烂番茄的评分来看, 就跟我们看豆瓣评分一样, so it's a pretty trustworthy sort of website or rating system, especially rotten tomatoes, they have both the critics rating就是影评人的这种专业人士的评分and also the general public rating.

Yeah. Only 7 episodes released in 2022. And it sparked so much debate. Now this TV show is actually based on the memoir of a former NHS doctor Adam Kay.

Emm. I think any good medical drama needs to be based on something written by a real medical professional. Otherwise it's just complete rubbish.

Pretty much. Now in the TV show, the main character is Adam Kay. So the writer of the original memoir. Now Adam Kay is a doctor who works in a very busy obstetrics and gynecology ward in a hospital.

嗯, 今天这一集里面大家会听到很多跟医疗相关的词, obstetrics and gynecology.

In American English they usually call it OB-GYN, I think you guys call it, I don't know like gynecology just call it gynae?

Yeah, we normally call it gyno.

Gyno, gynae, I’ve heard.这个就是obstetrics是产科, gynecology是妇科, 就一样的跟我们这种妇产科会经常放在一起, 他们也是 ward就是这样的一个section. It's basically part of the hospital.

Yes.

Now Adam is trying to rise through the hospital ranks by taking on extra shifts. So in this, he is not a very senior doctor, but he's not a junior doctor.

I believe in the TV, I don't know in the original book, because I never read the book, but in the TV he is about to become a registrar.

Yes.

So he's like the acting registrar.英国的这个体系特别复杂, 跟我们又不完全对应, 这里我就稍微说一下, registrar就相当于我们的高年资主治或者是副主任医师这样的, we call them probably more senior attending or like maybe deputy chief.

Yeah.

Maybe that level.

Adam’s level means that he can supervise junior doctors. But he's still not kind of like the highest rank.

And he works a lot.

He works an awful lot. Now Adam is the main character in this TV show, the other character it's worth talking about is Trudy.

Trudy is a like a doctor in training.

Yeah. She's a trainee doctor. So what we would call a junior doctor.

她是个低年资的 in that she had the title of SHO, senior house officer. I think it's like after the intern after a bit of the intern, but before the resident. 那样子一个, 我不能完全确定是不是有点像实习医和住院医之间的状态。And she still had to pass exams.

And also very importantly as well that she could not practice unsupervised. So she needed to have somebody with her and that was always Adam.

Mhm. Adam is like the mentor.

He is the mentor, and the other character is Mr. Lockhart.

Mister Lockhart is the much more senior doctor, the boss.

Yeah, he is the consultant.

So you notice that he's called mister, and this is a bit of a strange convention in the UK, when you become a consultant in the UK, you're generally not called doctor, you're called Mr. or Ms.

Consultant 直译是顾问医师, 但是实际上相当于国内的我们的chief就是主任医师或者他是带组的这种, so basically they are already, they mostly just supervise, don't they?

Yeah. They mostly supervise. But in this, he is the one who appears to have a good rest. He drives around in an expensive car.

So basically, he's probably being a doctor for years and years and years and he's reached that level, cause the consultant is a specialist and also a very senior doctor. So they do have administrative functions in that they are the ones who essentially hold the responsibility for the ward.

Yeah. So basically for medical professionals in the UK especially if you're on the doctor track, probably your ultimate goal is to become a consultant.

Yeah. And consultants in the UK are very, highly paid, as you can imagine, because they've had years and years and years of experience and they're very specialized in their own particular fields.

Yeah. This is why I think when patients get treated, I remember in the UK I was talking to friends and family about this. Like when they get treated, they would often feel like “oh, yeah. so today Mr. so and so or Ms. so and so as the consultant who is treating my case” and then they felt happy, they felt safe, because they felt like they're in good hands.

Yeah. If you go to an NHS hospital or if you're going in for surgery for example, you would probably speak to doctors first of all. And then you'll be referred to a consultant.

所以基本上就是英国的体系.

Ok. So it's a very complex system like I said before and neither 安澜 nor me are experts in this system. So we're not gonna bore you with more details. So the whole thing is basically just there's not really a main story, it’s just really talking about their lives and their work.

There is a certain plot that runs through...there are certain cases... There's a particular case, for example, I won't go too much into details, but there's a particular case that keeps featuring in every episode. But essentially, as you say, it's around discussing the problems with the system. And this is where the comedy aspect comes into it, because the NHS is shown to be so bureaucratic that it does lead to some sort of really bizarre, ludicrous situations.

To be honest, the first impression I got is not really the bureaucracy我并不觉得看上去第一感觉是官僚主义.

So I think for most of the audience probably is the overwork, is really the impossible workload, like for example Adam the main character in this, he literally would go through two shifts, two full-on shifts and then he would say “I'm gonna go home, have a rest”. He would pass out in his car. And then when he woke up, it's morning again and he had to go back to hospital.

Yeah. That's I would say is what you take away from the first episode, because Adam does have a partner who he never sees, because he keeps falling asleep in his car.

And also, his friends who is about to get married texting him, like “come to my bachelor party, come to my stag, do whatever, 就是他基本上没有任何的个人的时间, you know, this absolutely no work life balance.

No.

But even that you can never finish the work.

No.

I think this is over working, is it very, very common for NHS doctors and nurses？

It is incredibly common. It is very, very common. And this is why it's been particularly praised for being so realistic. Doctors are working 90-hour weeks, they are sleeping in their cars. They have to deal with bullying and abuse.

That's another thing. So the first challenge doctors and nurses they're facing is the overwork. And the second really is the abuse, like you said.

Yeah.

国内我们经常谈到医患关系之间的紧张, tension between doctors and patients, especially patient’s emotions are high.

Well, exactly.

Yeah. Which is understandable. But like in this, you could see some extreme cases, for example, they were this mother daughter combo. The daughter is about to go into labor is about to give birth to a child and there's some complications, and then they were getting treated by a white nurse during the day.

And then the white nurse is going to be off duty. So they got like a black nurse in, and then literally this woman and the mother they refuse to let non-white people treat them.

Yeah.

Does that happen in hospital？

I'm sure it does. Basically, as you say, hospital’s emotions are running high and you get people from all walks of life and unfortunately you do get people who are possibly racist, possibly sexist, even not particularly nice people still need hospital treatment.

Yeah. And I remember there was also another case. So doctors they're not just treating the symptoms. They also have to deal with the patients as human beings. There was one case where a husband and wife came in for like a complication the woman is again pregnant.

Yeah.

And then obviously the husband was there seemingly really attentive, seemingly really worried about his wife. But later on, Shruti, the more junior doctor found out that this man, this husband is behaving quite strangely that he was basically just watching his wife not leaving his wife out of his sight, and then Shruti suspected domestic violence.

Yeah.

这种家暴的一个案子.这个老公就一直不离开, 就是怕他跟医护人员去说.

Yeah.

And then they finally played a trick and then got the husband away and then talked to the wife, but then still there was nothing she could do and the husband almost attacked her.

Yeah. Exactly. And that's one of the sad things that sometimes in hospitals there is the need for security.

Same here, same in China.

Yeah. I would say that is also sort of a heartbreaking part of this TV show is that all of these doctors are good people. So for example, Adam is struggling to be a good doctor and a good person, but with that amount of overwork, with that level of exhaustion, you can see kind of how Adam is just kind of fraying. His patience just completely goes at times.

Yeah. And also I remember there was this, for example, the hospital is completely over stretched, like they just literally did not have enough empty beds, and there are new patients that are going to be admit it, and then, but Adam so basically the consultant is saying or the other, Adam and people are like asking Adam to kick some of the patients out.

Yeah.

And for a doctor to decide who to kick out, obviously they were there for a reason, but it's like kick out the patients you think they are not going to die. So we can admit new patients to turn over.

Yeah. And that is a really common issue with hospitals in the UK, is I’ve been in hospital a couple of occasions, and you'll never really there for too long because they simply need the beds.

Yeah.