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Comedy of the Week

Best Medicine

Comedy of the Week

BBC

Comedy

42.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Award-winning comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean is joined by funny and fascinating comedians, doctors, scientists, and historians to celebrate medicine’s inspiring past, present and future. In each programme, Kiri challenges her guests to make a case for what they think is 'the best medicine', and each of them champions anything from world-changing science to an obscure invention, an every-day treatment, an uplifting worldview, an unsung hero or a futuristic cure. Whether it’s micro-robotic surgery, virtual reality syringes, Victorian clockwork surgical saws, more than a few ingenious cures for cancer, world-first lifesaving heart operations, epidurals, therapy, dancing, faith or laughter - it’s always something worth celebrating. Joining Kiri this week are medical historian Dr Lindsey Fitzharris with the story of the pioneering World War I surgeon who transformed wounded soldiers faces, comedian Darren Harriott and his love of dancing, biomedical engineer Professor Eleanor Stride with cancer curing micro bubbles, brain surgeon Professor Mark Wilson with the GoodSAM app that can summon a first-aider at the touch of a button, and the man who owes his life to it. This episode was first broadcast as a pilot on BBC Radio 4 in July 2022. Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean Featuring: Dr Lindsey Fitzharris, Darren Harriott, Professor Eleanor Stride and Professor Mark Wilson Written by Jordan Gray, Rajiv Karia, Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Ben Rowse Producer: Ben Worsfield Assistant Producer: Tashi Radha Executive Producer: Simon Nicholls Theme tune composed by Andrew Jones A Large Time production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:15.4

Hello, I'm Curie Pritchard McLean,

0:17.2

and welcome to Best Medicine,

0:18.8

the show that celebrates medicine's past, present and future.

0:22.5

Now, as a Santa comedian,

0:23.7

I know that laughter is the best medicine,

0:25.9

especially if the condition is absent parents.

0:31.0

She won't like that when she listens.

0:35.4

She won't listen.

0:38.6

My four superb fascinating guests are each going to make a case

0:42.0

for what they think is the best medicine,

0:45.0

whether it's world-changing science,

0:47.0

an everyday treatment, an obscure invention,

0:49.0

or an unsung hero.

0:51.0

We're going to slice them open, stick them under the microscope,

0:54.0

and work out which is the best.

0:56.0

So, let's meet our panel, Dr. Lindsey Fitzheres,

0:58.0

Professor Mark Wilson, Professor Eleanor Stride,

1:00.0

and comedian Darren Harriott.

1:08.0

Darren, did you ever feel like you could be a doctor?

1:11.0

Um, yeah, I have.

1:14.0

I think we should all go to doctors,

...

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