Science/Medical Documentaries

Science/Medical Documentaries

The Hospital

Part One

Filmed in the accident and emergency wards of two Midlands hospitals, this episode highlights the alcohol-related casualties and fatalities that are pushing NHS staff to the limits of their endurance on a weekly basis.
Thanks to the principle of free healthcare at the point of delivery, none of the young patients know how much their care costs the NHS - but the real price of a night out can be high, and the seriously ill are often forced to compete with the casualties of a binge-drinking epidemic.
For the doctors and nurses on the frontline, left to pick up the pieces of a generation that some are calling a health time-bomb, there are no easy answers.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hospital/4od#2930682

Part Two

This episode explores the cost of teenage mothers to an already stretched health service. With 46,000 pregnant teens registered in the UK last year - the highest number in Europe - and many young people failing to take responsibility for their own health, can the NHS afford to maintain its founding principle of free healthcare at the point of delivery?
Part of a three-part series examining the relationship between teenagers and the NHS, this programme visits City Hospital in Birmingham where 10 new pregnant teenage girls register at the maternity unit each week. Is the NHS being asked to pick up the pieces of an increasingly self-destructive society?

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hospital/4od#2930683

Part Three

The third episode in the series looks at the cost of Britain's increasingly obese teens. At Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, younger and younger patients are being referred for help in tackling their weight and, increasingly, they are asking for a gastric band.
While doctors and dieticians see the £6000 operation as a last resort, some patients seek them as an 'easy' solution to their weight problem. But NHS weight management clinics can only help those who help themselves, and health professionals are hampered by young patients who don't tell them the truth about what they are eating.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hospital/4od#2930709

The Operation: Surgery Live

Open Heart Surgery

The first patient has a leaky mitral valve in their heart, which is causing them to feel extremely tired and short of breath.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-operation-surgery-live/4od#3006496

Brain Surgery

Viewers are given the unique chance to interact with leading surgeons as they carry out major operations. The programme features brain surgery from Southampton General Hospital.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-operation-surgery-live/4od#3006498

Hiatus Hernia Key-Hole Surgery

Viewers get a unique chance to interact with leading surgeons as they operate. Keyhole stomach repair from Addenbrooke's Hospital is carried out by surgeon Richard Hardwick.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-operation-surgery-live/4od#3006499

Pituitary Tumour Removal Surgery

The final programme in the series features pituitary tumour removal at King's College Hospital London carried out by surgeon Nick Thomas.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-operation-surgery-live/4od#3006500

Superdocs

Quality Of Life

With full access to the latest life-saving procedures and cutting-edge techniques, this compelling documentary series follows the work of Belfast's top surgeons, and the dramatic stories of the patients whose lives they battle to save.

Featuring Northern Ireland's finest in the areas of cardiac, neuro and reconstructive surgery, Superdocs is a fascinating insight into a world where going to work is a matter of life or death

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hk873/Superdocs_Quality_of_Life/

Fix Me

Horizon follows the emotional journey of three young people with currently untreatable conditions to see if within their lifetime, they can be cured.

Sophie is desperate to discover if there's a medical breakthrough which will get her walking again - a car crash after celebrating her A level results left her paralysed from the waist down. Anthony's leg was amputated after a rugby accident on the eve of his eighteenth birthday. Will he ever be able to regrow his leg? Father of four Dean is desperate for a cure for his damaged heart to avoid an early death. They've all read the headlines about the astonishing potential of stem cells to heal the body. Now they've been given access to the pioneering scientists who could transform their lives.

With so much at stake, each meeting is highly emotional as our three young people find out if science can fix them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nnkqm

The Secret You

With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science's greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are? While the thoughts that make us feel as though we know ourselves are easy to experience, they are notoriously difficult to explain. So, in order to find out where they come from, Marcus subjects himself to a series of probing experiments.

He learns at what age our self-awareness emerges and whether other species share this trait. Next, he has his mind scrambled by a cutting-edge experiment in anaesthesia. Having survived that ordeal, Marcus is given an out-of-body experience in a bid to locate his true self. And in Hollywood, he learns how celebrities are helping scientists understand the microscopic activities of our brain. Finally, he takes part in a mind-reading experiment that both helps explain and radically alters his understanding of who he is.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nhv56

Why Do We Talk?

Talking is something that is unique to humans, yet it still remains a mystery. Horizon meets the scientists beginning to unlock the secrets of speech - including a father who is filming every second of his son's first three years in order to discover how we learn to talk, the autistic savant who can speak more than 20 languages, and the first scientist to identify a gene that makes speech possible.

Horizon also hears from the godfather of linguistics, Noam Chomsky, the first to suggest that our ability to talk is innate. A unique experiment shows how a new alien language can emerge in just one afternoon, in a bid to understand where language comes from and why it is the way it is.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nx7n4

If any more good medical documentaries become available online ill add to this post.

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Phalanges

Blood And Guts: A History of Surgery was very good when it was on a year or so ago. And they seem to repeat it endlessly on BBC4 so keep an eye out for it.

Reply 2

carcinoma

Phalanges

Blood And Guts: A History of Surgery was very good when it was on a year or so ago. And they seem to repeat it endlessly on BBC4 so keep an eye out for it.

Michael Mosley Documentaries are amazing

Also Medical Mavericks, Make Me... Live forever/stay awake/smart, 10 things you need to know about loosing weight.

His are all amazing!

None have been repeated yt (except Blood and Guts so far)

Fight For Life - neeeeeds repeating
and so does Hospital Heroes.

Reply 3

916-CALL-TURK

vas876

Heard of Bittorrent?

Reply 4

carcinoma

916-CALL-TURK

Heard of Bittorrent?

Seriously, you found the need to ask that question? LOL

anyway i cant find "Doctors To Be" see if you can, it used to be on the box, but the upper has removed it from the tracker. (thebox)

Reply 5

TheNack

I found an episode of Horizon from 1978 the other day, all about how the microchip industry is going to change the world :biggrin:

it was actually really fascinating hearing them discuss the future and how microchips were going to shape it. It's weird to see a documentary like that from 30 years into their future haha...

For anyone who wants to watch it, here it is.

Reply 6

carcinoma

916-CALL-TURK

You could DL it from iPlayer as a .wmv file and strip the drm.

its not on iplayer anymore is it?

Reply 7

916-CALL-TURK

vas876

its not on iplayer anymore is it?

I thought you meant the Superdocs one.

Which one are you talking about?

Reply 8

carcinoma

916-CALL-TURK

I thought you meant the Superdocs one.

Which one are you talking about?

Doctors to be

Reply 9

T kay

This is good stuff Vas :yep:

I'd also keep an eye on what comes on in the evenings/nights on BBC4. They sometimes show a science or medical documentary.

Reply 10

Leifa

Good idea! I liked these two:

The Operation: Surgery Live - Four live surgeries were shown on Channel 4. Really interesting viewing!

The Hospital - Four programmes covering four different themes in the NHS: Alcohol & A&E, Teenage Pregnancy, Obesity and Teenagers With Cancer.

Reply 11

carcinoma

Leifa

Thanks, completly forgot about those!

They were and still are amazing, added to OP.

Reply 12

Dr.Danco

Any more good ones about(apart from the Junior Doctors thing on BBC 3)?

Reply 13

junior.doctor

They're filming in my hospital at the moment. Thankfully nowhere near me yet. I *think* it's channel 4, no idea when it's going to actually be on tv though.

Reply 14

winter_mute

Tune into pick tv Page 11 on freeview. They have a show called "The real A&E" Which covers the Warwick teaching hospitals and air ambulance. You don't see much of the medics; but you do get to see interesting cases! They have a +1 and it's on pretty much every day!

Reply 15

anon2010

Original post by winter_mute

Is there a link to this?

Reply 16

Legit

Original post by carcinoma

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xln23/The_Brain_A_Secret_History_Broken_Brains/

Thats pretty interesting, not sure if its entirly related though :smile:

Reply 17

sweetchilli

Hi All

I caught this programme last night. It is along the lines of Junior Drs inasmuch as it is following some docs training to be surgeons.

For those interested in surgery, it might be worth a look.

It was on STV (and assume ITV1) at 1110pm.