TV: BBC series takes us inside ourselves

By LOUISA CLEAVE

Robert Winston is the sort of science teacher everyone should have had in high school. He's the guy who turned boring biology lessons into mind-blowing TV ratings.

His enthusiasm for explaining the body's secrets in language not cluttered with medical terms would earn even the dullest student a pass mark.

Professor Winston's latest lesson is Superhuman, another impressive series from the BBC's science department, starting next week on TV One.

Where The Human Body, last year's televised textbook, focused on how our bodies work, the six-part Superhuman series investigates where our Stone Age-designed bodies are heading in the 21st century.

"Our capacity for wonder is the whole reason for science," says Winston. "When you stop wondering, you probably stop producing good science."

He introduces Superhuman standing on a giant dam, juxtaposing the enormous steps made by mankind in transforming the world through technology while our own unique piece of engineering has remained unchanged.

Winston is here to help us "rediscover the body and it's untold powers to heal and renew."

To do so, he has teamed up with Michael Mosley, the BBC producer Winston worked with on The Secret Life of Twins.

Mosley, a doctor, joined the BBC in 1985 and was named medical journalist of the year for an award-winning documentary about stomach ulcers.

He became executive producer for the BBC's science department in 1997 and two years ago started planning Superhuman.

Talking to Mosley during the Olympic Games, on an evening where the long-jump finals were playing in the background, he agrees it is a perfect backdrop for discussing the programme, which questions whether we are using our bodies to their full potential.

He practised medicine for a year before turning to television but still keeps up with research, trends and breakthroughs in medicine through his job, friends in the field and his doctor-wife.

As the ulcer programme proved, making a documentary for television can change more lives than he could ever do as a doctor.

Mosley is planning his next project, a more technical series on "how to build a human," but for now he hopes people will judge Superhuman on its merits rather than comparing it to The Human Body.

"I would have said Superhuman is probably more story-driven and more about human-interest stories than The Human Body," he says.

"People loved The Human Body. They loved the graphics and the sense of getting inside and seeing stuff."

Superhuman also has its share of whiz-bang effects, such as the eruption of chickenpox in a child, using time-lapse photography, but they are added extras to the personal
stories which drive each chapter (see sidebar).

New Zealander Clint Hallam, the world's first hand-transplant recipient, features in the series although his surgery took the
documentary-maker by surprise.

"We filmed an American case, that was the second operation, and then followed up Clint," Mosley explains.

"We were gnashing our teeth a bit because we had the exclusive on the American story. But we followed Clint up to find out what happened and the truth is the American is doing supremely well, whereas Clint has been a disaster, psychologically and because his hand is rejecting."

Mosley hopes the programme will make viewers realise how their bodies work and perhaps even use the knowledge to deal better with medical situations.

When his son fell from a window and fractured his head, Mosley applied information from the series to his personal situation.

"We told doctors we don't want him warmed up ... and he made a terrific recovery. We insisted on him being kept cool."

That titbit of knowledge appears in the trauma episode.

Soldiers who were seriously injured
during the Falklands War were often left in the extreme cold because of the danger of recovering them during battle. The freezing temperatures slowed down the effects of trauma.

The programme says this is in contrast to the Vietnam War, when soldiers who were given immediate medical treatment which involved being pumped with fluids to restore blood pressure often died.

Like its predecessor, Superhuman is full of fascinating facts and stunning camera work.

But its stories of miracle recoveries add an extra human dimension to the subject.

Discussing Superhuman, Mosley punctuates his answers with "I find it interesting that ...", or "I find it astonishing that ..."

He is right.

Superhuman won't find you dozing off at the back of the class.

Watching brief:

The star: You

The show: Superhuman

The time and place: TV One, Monday 8:30 pm