Michael Mosley: The doctor who pushed his body to extreme lengths for science

The 67-year-old, who helped popularise the 5:2 diet, has presented a host of science programmes and films.

A search operation is under way in Greece for the 67-year-old broadcaster who has gone missing (BBC/PA) (PA Archive)

Dr Michael Mosley, known for fronting diet and exercise TV and radio shows, has gone missing on the Greek island of Symi.

A search operation is under way for the 67-year-old broadcaster, who first trained as a doctor before moving in to the world of broadcasting.

Through his work, he helped popularise the 5:2 diet and often pushed his body to extreme lengths to see the effects, including living with tapeworms in his guts for six weeks for a documentary.

After studying PPE at Oxford, he became an investment banker, but later retrained as a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

He decided it was not the right profession for him after qualifying, later joining the BBC as a trainee assistant producer.

During his career with the broadcaster he has presented a host of science programmes and films including the series Trust Me, I’m A Doctor, which looked at healthcare in Britain.

He also carried out many unusual experiments on himself within these shows, including eating a black pudding made with his own blood and injecting snake venom into his blood to see how it clotted in the BBC documentary The Wonderful World Of Blood.

In a BBC Four documentary Infested!, he infected himself with parasites including tapeworms in order to understand how they impact the human body.

He often appears on BBC’s The One Show and ITV’s This Morning and has hosted many other shows including Medical Mavericks; Blood And Guts; Science Story; The Young Ones; Inside The Human Body; Eat, Fast Live And Longer; The Truth About Exercise; Pain, Pus & Poison and The Genius Of Invention.

In 2002, Mosley was nominated for an Emmy for his executive producer role on BBC science documentary The Human Face, presented by John Cleese and featuring a raft of famous faces including Elizabeth Hurley, Pierce Brosnan and David Attenborough.

He is also credited with popularising the 5:2 diet, a form of intermittent fasting, through his book The Fast Diet which he co-authored with journalist Mimi Spencer.

Mosley later advocated for The Fast 800 diet, which follows a “moderately low-carb, Mediterranean-style diet”, which he wrote a book about.

He has also made a number of series for Channel 4 including one which looked at why the UK is losing its battle with obesity after 30 years of government schemes trying to tackle the issue.

The broadcaster hosts a Radio 4 podcast, titled Just One Thing, where he reveals tips to help improve your health.

He recorded a special edition of the show at the Hay Festival on May 25 with Professor Tanya Byron.

Mosley is married to Clare Bailey, who is also a doctor, health columnist and author, and has four children.