"Mummifying Alan": has TV gone too far?

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Has TV gone too far this time? Body of terminally ill man is mummified for Channel 4 documentary

Channel 4 could find itself at the centre of another taste row after agreeing to broadcast a documentary showing the body of a British man being mummified like an Egyptian Pharoah.

The macabre programme, called Mummifying Alan, will make television history when it airs later this month as a scientific embalming experiment is unprecedented.

Sources say the man, who had been terminally ill, was interested in preservation techniques used at the time of Tutankhamun.
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A team of scientists was brought together to perform the little-known technique used by the ancient embalmers at one of the UK's leading pathology laboratories.

It is understood the body remained in excellent condition when it was examined months after the experiment.
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much more at Sunday Mail link above

Also see:

MAN’S BODY IS MUMMIFIED FOR TV (Sunday Express)
 
I personally find it fascinating and would watch it if it were aired here in the US.
 
I personally find it fascinating and would watch it if it were aired here in the US.

It will show in the U.S., I'm sure. And yes, this doesn't strike me as exemplifying a nadir for television, certainly. (That would be "reality shows.")
 
That sounds really fascinating and better than any episode of Jersey Shore. I may actually learn something. I would also watch this with my teenage son.

I'm gonna keep an eye out for it. Well...not literally!
 
I had no problem with PBS' The Suicide Tourist, so Im pretty sure this docu wouldn't bother me one bit. Besides, when people die in the modern world they are put through a type of temporary mummification called embalming, then put on display in funeral homes... obviously this man decided for permanent mummification. Fascinating, indeed...
 
From Daily Mail, and interesting....

Torquay's Tutankhamun revealed: Terminally ill cabbie chose to have his body mummified for Channel 4 documentary

One ruled over a vast kingdom from his royal palace by the Nile. The other reigned over the roads from behind the wheel of his taxi in Torquay.

But despite their vastly different lives, and the thousands of years between them, King Tutankhamun and Alan Billis have one important thing in common.

The late Mr Billis has become the first man to be mummified in the style of the ancient Egyptians for at least 3,000 years.
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more, with a couple pics of a mummified Mr Billis and a "How to Create a Mummy" sidebar, at link above
 
I'm not sure. I am pretty much ok with the idea of Euthanasia. I know it's a different topic but I saw this reality show where they showed someone killing themselves in the name of euthanasia with the assistance of a group and it really freaked me out. I had such a horrible reaction to it that it surprised me.

Here's a clip of the documentary

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxGWH7xycAA"]Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die Part 4 - YouTube[/ame]


It was all done very quietly and calmly, but the scientific perspective on the human body and dying is very creepy to me. Mummification would probably freak me out the same way.
 

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