Microbes and Men - Season 1

Season 1

Episodes

The Invisible Enemy
In the 1840s the Vienna General Hospital was one of the great centres of European medicine, yet many mothers died of ' childbed fever.' Ignaz Semmelweis set out to find the cause of this disease.

A Germ is Life
In the small French town of Arbois stand the graves of Louis Pasteur 's three young daughters. Two had died from typhoid, one from an inoperable tumour-a stark reminder of the background to his struggle to find the cause of disease.

Men of Little Faith
The early 1870s. Although a revolution is under way in the understanding of disease, ignorance and opposition to the new ideas exist at all levels. Can Pasteur or Koch find a practical outcome of their experiments that will convince the sceptics?

Certain Death
On 6 July 1885 young Joseph Meister was brought to Pasteur's laboratory. He had been savaged by a rabid dog and bitten 14 times. Death from rabies seemed certain, unless Pasteur would treat him with an untried and possibly lethal vaccine.

The Tuberculin Affair
1890: Germany is host to an international congress of doctors. Pressure is on Koch, working on a cure for tuberculosis, to produce results to surpass the French success with rabies.

The Search for the Magic Bullet
At the turn of the century two men, one in London, the other in Frankfurt, were embarking on research which each hoped would provide the cures so sorely needed. At the time it would have been impossible to say which would succeed.
Recently Updated Shows

The Twelve
Twelve citizens are called for jury duty on a high-profile murder trial as traumatizing as it is controversial, in which a woman stands accused of killing her sister's child.
As time goes by, the murder trial becomes a trial, not only for the accused, but for the jury members themselves.
Behind the façade of their anonymity, these twelve ordinary people bring with them their own histories. Lives that are as complex as the trial, full of fractured dreams, shameful secrets, hope, fears, personal trauma and prejudice.

Atomic
Atomic is a dynamic and entertaining action-fuelled adventure. When Max and Mohammed, two unlikely friends – and even less likely heroes – become swept up in a cartel's plot to transport uranium across North Africa, they face a monumental decision: save themselves or risk everything to prevent a nuclear bombgetting into the wrong hands.

Amandaland
Following three series of the Merman-produced, BAFTA award-winning series Motherland, a brand-new spin-off, Amandaland, is coming to the BBC, focused on Amanda.
Post her divorce, Amanda has had to downsize and up sticks to South Harlesden, or as the Estate Agent calls it SoHa (definitely not the area around Wormwood Scrubs prison).
With both Manus and Georgie now at secondary school, Amanda has to try and get her head around raising teenagers, dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts and eco anxiety. Not even a woman as certain of her parenting as Amanda can deal with these nightmares alone.
Then there's Amanda's mother Felicity who is constantly around, and completely in denial that she is, in fact, lonely. Theirs is a slightly unhealthy co-dependent relationship based on backhanded compliments and veiled snipes about her new home.
After a brief spell of freedom, Anne is sucked back into being Amanda's minion to help her navigate the social scene with the other parents at the children's new school. Thank God for Anne.