The Human Body is a seven part documentary

Documentary

A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

 series, first shown on 20 May 1998 on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 and presented by medical scientist Robert Winston

Robert Winston

Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...

. A co-production between the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 and The Learning Channel

TLC (TV channel)

TLC is an American cable TV specialty channel which initially focused on educational content. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed networks...

, the series looks at the mechanics and emotions of the human body from birth to death.

The series was nominated for numerous awards, winning several, including three BAFTA

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

 awards, four RTS

Royal Television Society

The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...

 awards and a Peabody Award

Peabody Award

The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...

.

Production

Described as the BBC's "first major TV series on human biology", it took over two years to make and aimed to be the definitive set of programmes on the human body. The series was produced by Richard Dale and presented by Professor Robert Winston

Robert Winston

Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...

, a fertility expert.

The series used a variety of different techniques to present the topics being discussed, including endoscopes

Endoscopy

Endoscopy means looking inside and typically refers to looking inside the body for medical reasons using an endoscope , an instrument used to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body. Unlike most other medical imaging devices, endoscopes are inserted directly into the organ...

 and computer graphics for internal shots, time-lapse photography to show the growth of hair and nails, magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...

 and scanning electron microscopy

Scanning electron microscope

A scanning electron microscope is a type of electron microscope that images a sample by scanning it with a high-energy beam of electrons in a raster scan pattern...

.

Episodes

1. "Life Story" – Every second, a world of miraculous microscopic events take place within the body.
2. "An Everyday Miracle" – The drama of conception activates the most sophisticated life support machine on earth.
3. "First Steps" – In four years, the new-born child learns every survival skill.
4. "Raging Teens" – The hormone-driven roller-coaster otherwise known as adolescence!
5. "Brain Power" – The adult human brain is the most complicated - and mysterious - object in the universe.
6. "As Time Goes By" – is far more complex - and fascinating - than mere decline.
7. "The End of Life – Even in death, the body reveals remarkable secrets.

Episodes directed by: Richard Dale, Emma De'ath, Andrew Thompson, Peter Georgi, Christopher Spencer, Liesel Evans, John Groom

Awards

The series was nominated for numerous awards, winning several, including three BAFTA

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

 awards, four RTS

Royal Television Society

The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...

 awards and a Peabody Award

Peabody Award

The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...

.

Year	Award	Result	Category / Comments
1998	British Academy Television Awards British Academy Television Awards The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...	Won	Best Factual Series (Richard Dale)
		Won	Originality (Richard Dale)
		Won	Best Graphic Design (Tim Goodchild, David Haith)
		Nominated	Best Photography (Factual) (Chris Hartley, David Barlow, Tim Shepherd, Rob Franklin)
		Nominated	Best Sound (Factual)
	Royal Television Society Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...  Awards	Won	Best Graphic Design – Programme Content Sequences (Tim Goodchild, David Haith)
		Won	Best Lighting, Photogtaphy & Camera - Photography Documentary/Factual (Chris Hartley, David Barlow, Tim Shepherd, Rob Franklin)
		Won	Best Visual Effects (Tim Goodchild, David Barlow, Tim Shepherd, Steve Bowman)
		Won	Craft and Design Innovation
		Nominated	Team Award
	National Television Awards National Television Awards The National Television Awards is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted on by the general public. Because of the way the awards are decided, winners are...	Nominated	Most Popular Documentary Series
	George Foster Peabody Awards Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...	Won	"Never needlessly technical and always witty, energetic, and innovative, The Human Body takes us on an incredible voyage, and for so doing, is deserving of the Peabody Award."
1999	International Monitor Awards	Won	Documentaries – Director (Christopher Spencer for "The End of Life")
	San Francisco International Film Festival San Francisco International Film Festival San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...  Silver Spire	Won	Television – Science and Nature (Alan Bookbinder, Lorraine Heggessey, Richard Dale, Christopher Spencer for "The End of Life")
	International Documentary Association International Documentary Association International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...  Awards	Nominated	Limited Series (Sandra Gregory, Richard Dale)

Other formats

A DVD of the series was released in July 2001 and includes a 50-minute feature on The Making of the Human Body - A final overview that reveals the techniques and developments that made the series possible.

The series was adapted into a film released for IMAX

IMAX

IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...

 cinemas. The film won the Giant Screen Theatre Association's Best Film For Lifelong Learning award.

Book

Author: Anthony Smith

Anthony Smith

Anthony Smith is, among other things, an explorer, author and former Tomorrow's World television presenter. He is perhaps best known for his bestselling work The Body , which has sold over 800,000 copies worldwide and tied in with a BBC television series, known in America by the name...

. The Human Body (book) takes the reader beyond bodily anatomy and function to more philosophical questions (e.g. why do our bodies break down during old age? Why does the female outlive her ability to reproduce?). According to one review, "Smith transcends anatomical trivia to record our bodies' powerful tale with empathy and clarity."

External links

• The Human Body special report. BBC News
  BBC News
  BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
  
  .