Currently airing on Saturday nights on BBC2 – and so available to watch through the BBC iplayer – is Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery.First shown on BBC4 last year, the series charts the "brutal, bloody and dangerous history of surgery", often with the use of graphic imagery from modern day operations.
Slightly less visceral is the accompanying book for the series, which includes the following acknowledgement from its author, Richard Hollingham:
"If there is one institution that made this book possible, it is the Wellcome Library. I have spent many happy hours there, leafing through old books, papers and journals... The biggest problem with the Wellcome Library is that it is very easy to get diverted. I spent an afternoon reading graphic case notes on early eye operations, only to realize there was no space for them in the book..."
