Anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens caused controversy in 1995 when his exhibition of preserved human bodies Body Worlds was installed in Japan. Since then, nearly 25 million visitors in over 40 cities in Asia, Europe, and North America have seen what is now considered to be the world’s most successful travelling exhibition.

In each episode, Dr von Hagens recreates serious injuries on cadavers to reveal just what happens to the body when faced with assaults or accidents. All specimens used to demonstrate the effect of these injuries are real human bodies, donated to Dr von Hagens’ Institute for Plastination.

Filmed in front of an audience of future body donors and their families, Dr von Hagens is joined by Emma Rand from the British Red Cross and Dr John Heyworth, an Accident and Emergency Consultant. Emma Rand uses living models to demonstrate first aid procedures such as removing blocked airways or treating stab wounds. Dr Heyworth helps provide a medical background to the injuries, explaining why the body is more vulnerable to certain injuries, and why knowing how to treat these wounds in the first few minutes is so important.

Episode 1 - Minutes from Death.

In the first episode, Dr von Hagens uses fake blood to demonstrate the effects of trauma caused from rapid blood loss. By replicating a stab wound on a cadaver, we learn just how little time surgeons have to save lives. In a little over 3 minutes the donor bleeds out three litres of blood, which is nearly 60 percent of all of the blood in his body – enough to kill him.

Dr von Hagens then demonstrates how susceptible human airways are to blockage. While Dr Hayworth describes how vital our airways are, Dr von Hagens shows us the passage of a living person, by inserting a camera into his own airway. Emma Rand then demonstrates what people can do to do to help someone who is choking.