The huge hit U.K. medical show Embarrassing Bodies:“You see, look at that guy there.” Stephanie Harris, executive producer of Channel 4’s hit show Embarrassing Bodies, points to a young man ambling along on the other side of the street, blissfully unaware that we’re now wondering what horrors could be lurking inside his Calvin Kleins.
“He looks perfectly fit and healthy, but you don’t know what’s festering in his pants,” Harris says. “That’s the whole ethos of the show.”
I don’t particularly want to think about what’s festering in his nether regions: I’m still recovering from coming face to face with a man’s hairy, hemorrhoid-ridden, prolapsed anus on a recent episode of Embarrassing Bodies.
The show’s concept is simple: It follows three doctors assessing patients of all ages, shapes, and sizes in the “Embarrassing Bodies” clinic. The patients are then given whatever treatment is needed, from pioneering surgery to simple antibiotics thanks to various private and public clinics. Participants are not paid—only treatment is offered. No ailment is too gruesome—and never has the expression “warts and all” been more apt. Over the three years, Embarrassing Bodies has been running—it began life 10 years ago as a documentary, then became a half-hour show, before growing to the current hour-long medical extravaganza with its own spinoffs and specials in 2007—we’ve seen at least 140 different conditions to date, including missing nipples, anal warts, misshapen vulvas, crippling armpit abscesses, uncontrollable farting and dribbling, and various fungal infections of unrecognizable body parts.
Nothing is pixelated or blurred, as this would “imply shame,” says Harris, and of course goes against the Embarrassing Bodies motto: “No shame, we’re all the same.” The show aims to raise awareness of different ailments, Harris says. “It’s about demystifying any worry or anxiety people have about anything to do with medicine and surgery.”
Embarrassing Bodies is the most-watched show on Channel 4 this year, consistently winning audiences of up to 4 million—double the U.K. average ratings for its Friday time slot. The show is multi-platform: 70 million have visited their BAFTA-winning website to check out the vulva, penis, and breast galleries, to ask questions, watch extended versions of medical examinations or to use the site’s interactive tools and surveys: More than 1 million people have used the “STI tracker” (the sexually transmitted disease tool) and 150,000 have taken the autism test. When it’s on, the show is often the top trending topic on Twitter. Next up is a four-part special, Embarrassing Fat Bodies (according to Harris, “jaw-dropping and more extreme than anything we’ve seen before”) and then a new 18-part regular series will begin early next year.
