Sarah Close
Sarah Close is an experienced script-writer who won a BBC comedy scriptwriting competition in her twenties and went on to develop scripts for Writersroom, working alongside comedy commissioning at the BBC. Sarah has the distinctive ability to see humour in the most challenging of situations. This Did Hurt, her riposte to Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt, charts her journey into motherhood in a maternity care system pushed too far. Sarah also co-runs two Cat Cafes with her sister, providing animal-assisted therapy for local communities in Manchester and Liverpool, and she runs this alongside her role as a wife and the mother of two boisterous children.
BUYING OPTIONS
Buy This Did Hurt
This Did Hurt is a raw, unflinchingly honest memoir about one woman’s experience of navigating a healthcare system that too often fails to take women seriously — even at the moments they need it most.
What begins with the joy of a hard-won pregnancy slowly unravels into a maze of seemingly dismissive encounters, missed warning signs and moments of profound vulnerability. As anxiety builds and trust erodes, Sarah Close finds herself in a labyrinthine system stretched beyond its limits — one that often overlooks women’s voices, skimps their care, and leaves both patients and staff struggling.
This is for every woman who has felt unheard, brushed aside, or made to doubt her own body. For those whose concerns were minimised, whose pain was questioned, whose safety was at risk, or who were made to feel like an inconvenience. For those who carried on despite it, and for the people who stood beside them, wishing they could do more.
Balancing exasperation and jeopardy with biting humour, This Did Hurt pulls back the curtain on the gaps in women’s healthcare and asks urgent questions about why those gaps continue to widen — and who is left to carry the consequences.
