The BSMS anatomy team attended the prestigious Royal Television Society awards on 28 March, after the nomination of the My Dead Body documentary, partly filmed at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) last year and featuring dissections by the team.
The award, in the Science and Natural World category, was won by Sir David Attenborough’s The Green Planet but the nomination, one of only three in the category, is a tremendous achievement for the team involved in My Dead Body.
The BSMS Anatomy team: Aiden Jayanth, Holly Cartwright, Camilla Ingram, Catherine Hennessy, Dominic O’Brien, Laura Arnold and Danya Stone
The documentary also received another prestigious nomination, with director Sophie Robinson being shortlisted for a BAFTA Craft Award, which will be announced on Sunday 23 April.
The documentary focused on the body donation of mum Toni Crews, who died from a rare cancer inside her tear gland in 2020. The programme has helped educate the public and medical and healthcare professionals on the progression of cancer in the body, as well as the importance of body donation.
Toni, who in life campaigned for greater cancer awareness, consented to the televising of the dissection of her body, and now millions of members of the public have gained a rare insight into science, research and medicine through the documentary.
Around one thousand students learned directly from the dissection sessions undertaken at BSMS as part of the documentary. As well as medical and nursing students, this included neuroscientists, physiotherapists and mental health nurses. Each one of those will go on to treat tens of thousands of patients in their professional life.
Commenting on the awards, Professor Smith said: “Being shortlisted for this award was an amazing acknowledgement of all involved in the documentary, especially Toni and her family. I am so proud to have been part of such a ground-breaking and moving programme.”
Find out more about My Dead Body here >