Sister Pictures have acquired the television rights for Adam Kay’s debut book This is Going To Hurt.

The Picador title, published 7th September 2017, was signed by Naomi De Pear of Sister Pictures, from Cathryn Summerhayes, Amanda Davis, Jessica Cooper and Kat Buckle at Curtis Brown after a 12-way auction. The series will be written by Adam Kay and developed by Katie Carpenter and Naomi de Pear, who will Executive Produce the series.

This is Going To Hurt is the diary of writer and comedian Adam Kay during the six years he spent as a junior doctor. It is a blistering first-hand account of life working for the NHS in all its joy, pain, sacrifice, hilarity, horror and maddening bureaucracy. Kay, who worked as a junior doctor between 2004 and 2010, had previously turned his experiences into a critically acclaimed sell-out show which ran at the Edinburgh Festival and then at Soho Theatre. Best known for his work fronting musical comedy act The Amateur Transplants, Kay is now an award-winning writer for stage, screen and radio and currently has projects in development for Disney, Working Title Films and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Four By Two Films.

Adam Kay says: “I couldn’t be happier about working with Sister to bring This is Going to Hurt to television. Jane, Naomi, Katie and the whole team are fantastic, with a brilliant vision for the show, and a hard and rightly won reputation for producing world-class television. I’ll try my best not to ruin their reputation.”

Naomi De Pear says: “Adam’s book is a visceral and hilarious reminder of how brave, ridiculous, beautiful and stupid human beings and the systems they create are. I snorted with laughter on every page and was left completely heartbroken. We’re honoured to be able to work with Adam on adapting his vision for television. The NHS is a magnificent beast and it’s imperative that this story be told now.”