This Is Going To Hurt's ending explained as Adam faces a life-changing decision
This Is Going To Hurt spoilers follow.
Adam Kay's tale of life as an NHS doctor reached its suitably devastating, yet heartwarming conclusion in episode seven.
The sacrifices every member of the OB/GYN ward makes deserve more than a round of applause and some banging of pots and pans outside your front door – and This Is Going To Hurt proves that with its blunt insight into the world of 12-hour shifts.
So how does the story play out? Well, it dropped in one big, motherlode of a box set on BBC iPlayer, so fans who want to binge-watch it all didn't have to wait too long to find out.
We're about to discuss all the episodes. So this is your last warning before we dig into some spoiler territory.
For everyone else, here's what happened to Adam and the rest of the 'brats and twats' team.
The Biggest Shock
In episode six, viewers will be suitably devastated when, after dealing with a shift from hell on her own, student doctor Shruti Acharya took her own life.
Shruti's stress with her neverending ward shifts and the mounting pressure of her studies had been building for months, and on the day she passed her exams, it ultimately became too much for her.
In a brutal gut punch, by the start of episode seven, set two months after her death, her colleagues are forced to continue like nothing is wrong, even having to juggle to make time for her memorial outside the hospital's front door, or rushing off when their beepers go.
Shruti's educational supervisor Vicky Houghton proves as emotionless and unsympathetic as ever, leading the memorial by getting Shruti's last name wrong, cracking jokes like a stand-up routine and being dismissive of the tree being planted in her memory.
Adam later confronts her about it, asking why there isn't an investigation or why Shruti's death isn't serving as a warning to how bad mental health and morale is at the hospital. But Houghton dismisses him, noting there's no budget to improve things, and nothing anyone can do but to just get on with it.
The Biggest Decision
On top of his guilt over his attitude towards Shruti, Adam is at his lowest point, having lost his boyfriend Harry, his home after moving back in with his mum, and potentially even his job.
Facing a tribunal for his conduct on the ward, Adam barely has time to think about anything else as he continues delivering babies left and right, even when one of the fathers is pratting about drunk in the corner of a room. At one point he even saves a baby who was seconds away from death thanks to his quick thinking.
The only shining light is that baby Mist, who he delivered prematurely by emergency C-section in the opening episode, is now finally well enough to go home. New mum Erika is so grateful for his continued support that she buys him a 'best doctor ever' mug, but he chokes up when she tells him she's bought one for Shruti too, and is unable to tell her she's died.
Adam is ready to give everything up, and is becoming more disillusioned by the day. Registrar Mr Lockhart pushes him to the edge when he suggests that, at the tribunal, Adam pin the blame of his error on Shruti, seeing as she's no longer around to discredit the claim.
Instead, when he finally sits in front of the tribunal, Adam makes a speech to fully commemorate Shruti and the amazing doctor they lost due to the shoddy working conditions because being an OB/GYN 'didn't feel like any kind of future' to her. He also chastises the state of the NHS workload, how one doctor every three weeks dies by suicide as a result of the pressure, and that it's ultimately a thankless job.
"That should be a national f**king headline every time it happens but instead it's wiped under the carpets," he tells them. Taking into consideration what he said, he's not struck off as a doctor. The question is if he even wants to be one anymore.
In the locker room, he takes Shruti's name card from her locker and keeps it in his wallet as a reminder. He is also more sympathetic towards the new student doctor who freezes on the job.
The Big Goodbye
After everything that's happened, Adam has been making more of a conscious effort to be around his friends Greg and Emma as their wedding day (and baby due date) approaches.
He also meets up with Harry at a café, and breaks down in tears over everything that's happened. Harry is sympathetic, and the pair share a moment, leading Adam to offer Harry an invitation to Greg and Emma's wedding as his plus one.
With Emma's baby due at any moment, Greg repeatedly calls him with worry over every aspect of the pregnancy. Adam ultimately gifts Emma a sonic-aid as a wedding gift, so she can hear the baby's heartbeat whenever she's worried. Despite their previous animosity, the pair seem on much better terms.
Harry didn't turn up to the wedding, but arrives late after going to 'the wrong Farnborough'. Swiping a bottle of wine from the reception, the pair reunite for a chat by the country estate's lake.
After mocking some of the more pretentious parts of the extravagant wedding, the pair dive into the water together. Amid the fun, Adam asks Harry to give things another go, telling him he's going to quit medicine as it's destroyed his life.
Adam tells Harry he misses him and Harry admits the same, but knows being a doctor is who Adam is, and that he doesn't really want to give it all up.
Reminiscing on the life-changing wins he's had, Adam admits he's not ready to leave, and as a result, the pair part on amicable terms, knowing they want different things.
The next day Adam returns to work and is waiting to pay for his parking when he sees someone in labour in the backseat of a car.
After successfully delivering the new baby with the help of a shoelace and an ice scraper, Adam returns to his own car to find he's now got a parking ticket.
This Is Going To Hurt is available now on BBC iPlayer.
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