Michael Mosley excelled at making complex ideas seem lightheartedly simple

Few figures on television changed the way we thought, ate and behaved like Michael Mosley. But on the other hand, he was in an almost unique position to achieve this.

A graduate of medical school who joined the BBC as a trainee assistant producer in 1985, Mosley soon found that he could convey groundbreaking scientific and medical ideas to the general public, a skill he used to great advantage again and again.

This was spoofed behind the cameras while he worked on shows like Tomorrow’s World and weather programs like Superstorm and Could We Survive a Mega-Tsunami?

In 1995, the British Medical Association named him medical journalist of the year thanks to his Horizon episode Ulcer Wars, which highlighted the medical profession’s reluctance to follow research that ulcers were caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (not stress, as previously thought) and could be treated. with antibiotics instead of surgery.

But Mosley’s career really took off when he made the decision to appear in front of the camera.

His broadcasting career began in 2006 with Medical Mavericks, a history show in which he chronicled medical advances in vaccination, anesthesia and defeating infections. One episode looked at doctors deliberately infecting themselves with diseases to study its effects. It set in motion a theme that ran throughout Mosley’s career.

For example, in 2014 he mimicked their research approach by swallowing three tapeworm cysts obtained from infected cattle for a BBC Four series to see what they did to his body. He remained asymptomatic but gained a pound, possibly due to his increased appetite.

At that point, however, Mosley was already a household name. Thanks to regular appearances on BBC Breakfast and The One Show, and medical documentaries in which he was often clever enough to make the subject of both himself and presenter, his face became one of the best known in the business.

However, the show that would truly change his life was a 2012 episode of Horizon entitled Eat, fast and live longer. This was the show that popularized the 5:2 diet, a method of intermittent fasting in which people commit to consuming just 500 calories per day for two days of the week. On the show, Mosley claimed that the 5:2 diet was not only useful for weight loss, but also for lowering insulin levels and reducing inflammation.

Although the 5:2 diet was not his discovery, Mosley made it so popular that he was able to write a number of very successful books on the subject. His ideas would later evolve into what he called the Fast 800 diet, a low-calorie, low-carb Mediterranean diet that also included intermittent fasting. Once again, the books he wrote on the subject became minor publishing sensations, thanks in part to Mosley’s willingness to walk the walk when it came to sharing big ideas.

Although he continued to make shows for the BBC, including Are Health Tests Real a Good Idea? and E-Cigarettes: Miracle or Menace? he had become such a name that other broadcasters naturally came knocking. In 2021, he began hosting shows for Channel 4. One of these, Lose a Stone in 21 Days, brought Mosley the first and only controversy he encountered during his career. The show, in which he wanted to quickly slim down a group of test subjects who had gained weight during the lockdown, caused a storm on social media; an eating disorder charity said it was forced to extend the opening hours of its helpline due to the content of the show.

However, it is unlikely that this is why Mosley will be remembered. Throughout his film career, he managed to reach audiences thanks to his lively, curious presence. A show he presented was a show that effortlessly walked the line between academic and populist. But Mosley was skilled enough to make complex ideas look breezily simple, something you can’t do unless you have the right qualifications and experience.

Very few people can do this successfully. Carl Sagan could do it. Hannah Fry is exceptionally good at it. But Mosley was one of the very best.