Review of 'Undoctored'

Undoctored by Adam Kay

I am a fan of a live television show broadcast here in the UK called Saturday Kitchen Live where every Saturday morning they have several chefs along with a special guest. The chefs, of course, prepare various dishes while the guest participates with various conversations with the host interspersed with clips from cooking programs from the past. Recently one of their guests was “Adam Kay” who, at the time, I knew nothing of. In the course of the show's hour and a half I learned he was a doctor for many years, leaving the profession after a particularly traumatic incident in the maternity ward. Since then he has been writing about his experience which is all the more interesting with his knack for humour, indeed, he also spends some time as a stand up comedian. His first book “This is Going to Hurt” was so popular the BBC made a short series television show based on it (a few years ago so I am a bit behind the times). Intrigued, my wife and I watched the show and were compelled by the mixture of tense workplace drama including graphic sequences of blood and gore mixed with an ironic and hilarious humour of the main character, Adam himself. Being one to defy convention we started by reading his books with “Undoctored”, written five years after his first but perhaps this is OK given that we have already seen what led up to it…

“Undoctored” tells the story of Adam Kay following his hanging up his stethoscope as he struggles to find something to do with his life. Interspersed amongst this we are taken back to his early days in medical school with it's rather macabre sense of humour. Throughout the chapters we have a sense of his humanity and his very human problems that allows us to see clearly through his eyes the experiences that he has had which are told here in often vivid detail. He is not one to hold back but with his dark, ironic humour he manages to guide us through his life episodes to come out on the other side. I do have to say that this work is often self-indulgent with his continuing focus on his own foibles: His insecurity as a gay male, his reluctance to move on, his relationship with his mother…But he makes no secrets of these issues, clearly and openly confessing to them throughout which redeems him somewhat.

In this paperback version of the book there are seven “scenes” (chapters) added, small episodes that did not seem to fit anywhere else in his books. He likes to use footnotes throughout the book to add side, often cynical, comments to the narrative and the small generally self-contained chapters make it easy to put down and pick up again.

An interesting perspective on what the British public healthcare (NHS) system chews and spits out talented doctors. One of Kay's points is that every three weeks a doctor in the UK commits suicide which is something he thinks is fundamentally wrong in a system where there are not enough medical staff to go around and waiting lists continue to grow. It is also important to note that not only does he talk about the trauma involved in working for the NHS he does also cover the good parts as well. At the end of it he was not in it for the money but genuinely wanted to do some good.

Easy to read, very funny, very dark and often depressing but also very interesting. Will have to pick up his earlier books now…

Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”

Review Date: 2026-04-06

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Orion Books

Publication Date: 2022

ISBN: 9781398700390