The doctor turned comic and bestselling author on writing children’s books, hiding useful facts in disgusting jokes and how bad at Scrabble he is

Adam Kay, 41, trained as a doctor and worked for the NHS for six years before quitting to become a writer and comedian. Both his memoirs, This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor and Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas, were bestsellers, with several million copies sold, making him the first author to have simultaneous No 1s for hardback and paperback nonfiction titles. He turned both books into hugely successful standup shows. Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas is touring the UK and a BBC Two series of This Is Going to Hurt, adapted by Kay and starring Ben Whishaw, is coming in 2022. He has also started writing children’s books, publishing Kay’s Anatomy last year and, in September, Kay’s Marvellous Medicine.

What made you want to write children’s books?
I have always been fascinated by the human body; I think it is the most extraordinary bit of kit ever. But it’s never had the same cool billing among kids as outer space and dinosaurs, probably because they’re forced to do biology in a rather dry way at school. So I thought I’d have a go at getting across my enthusiasm for the topic, with some jokes thrown in.