Inside the Human Body

Series exploring the wonders of the human body. Using spectacular graphics based on real images and the latest scientific research, Michael Mosley takes viewers on a voyage through the workings of the inner human universe. Travelling through the body, tiny clusters of hairs loom as large as a forest and hidden chambers of the heart rise up like a vast cathedral. To illustrate the surprising ways bodies work, the series also tells the stories of remarkable people from around the world who have pushed theirs to the absolute limit. From the moment of creation to our last breath, the series reveals the human body's ability to amaze and delight. Mosley tells the story of human biological creation. He brings to life surprising medical research, revealing the improbable sequence of events that lead to birth. State-of-the-art graphics follow millions of sperm on their dangerous race towards the egg, revealing the ingenious ways that a woman's body selects the best; illustrate a body begining to self-assemble; and, in a television first, show a human face coming together. The programme follows the progress of a couple who are expecting triplets, from the 4D scan when they first come face-to-face with their babies to the dramatic finale of birth. Plus, meet a woman expecting her 16th baby and the oldest conjoined twins in the world.

In this episode, Michael Mosley shows how existence is a struggle and how, minute by minute, from your first breath to your last, your body performs countless small miracles to keep you alive. It starts with a dramatic water birth, shot in slow motion, before a stunning graphics sequence takes us on a breathtaking journey into the heart. We see how that first, crucial breath leads to a dramatic re-plumbing of your entire circulatory system. Michael meets remarkable people who demonstrate how well the human body adapts to extreme environments: Herbert, a world-champion free-diver, who can hold his breath in the depths of the ocean for up to nine minutes; Wim, the Ice Man, who can swim in glacial lakes so cold they would kill a normal person; and Debbie, who has lived for 10 years on a diet of crisps. And finally we see what happens when your body finally fails; we share the last moments of Gerald, an 84-year-old, as he passes away at home with his family gathered around him.

In this episode, Michael Mosley traces our development from birth to adulthood, and reveals that the human brain is so sophisticated it takes more than twenty years to mature. We see how new-born Phoebe makes sense of the world, and how one-year-old Angelina copes with just half a functioning brain. We discover how Moken sea Gypsy children train themselves to see clearly underwater, and meet a Vietnamese girl who speaks 11 different languages. Michael shows his own teenagers remarkable scans which reveal just how many brain connections we lose between the ages of 11 and 20. This remodeling is an essential part of growing up, and helps explain teen behaviour and their tendency to take risks - as illustrated by Stephanie, the world's youngest stock car racer at the age of 13.

In the final episode of Inside The Human Body, Michael Mosley reveals the ingenious ways in which your body defends itself against a hostile world - where sunlight shatters your DNA and every breath contains microbes that can kill. We meet Cristian, a bull jumper whose muscles give him the strength to avoid a violent death, three-year-old Rowan whose internal army fights off the flu virus, and Johnny who gets injured almost every week to earn his living, relying upon his body's remarkable ability to heal And when injuries are too severe to be repaired, we see how surgeons use medical expertise to exploit the body's natural powers of healing. Richard Edwards is filmed having his damaged hands cut off and replaced with someone else's - the first time something this radical has ever been attempted.