The Coming of Age: Life Begins at 60 is a week of programming from Channel 4 dedicated to the over-60s, which bids to challenge some of the preconceptions and stereotypes surrounding the lives of older people. Tonight the Embarrassing Bodies team turn their expert attentions to the embarrassing ailments, illnesses and conditions that affect us as we age: from cancer scares and incontinence to bunions and loss of hearing. The doctors explore revolutionary new treatments for varicose veins, showcase a new invisible hearing aid, and explain keyhole surgery procedures for prostate cancer treatment.

Sunday 22 November 2009
9:00pm, Channel 4

This week’s episode tackles a range of summer holiday ailments. The team sets up a temporary clinic at Birmingham International Airport, ready to help anyone who’s picked up an unwanted holiday souvenir. The team sees two case studies with similar yet opposing problems; Dr Pixie meets a gentleman who suffers from the constant need to go to the toilet and Dr Christian treats a young mother suffering from extreme constipation.

Wednesday 13 May 2009
8:00pm

Tonight’s episode features a woman in her 30s whose life and skin have been ruined by acne: can her face and fortunes be restored by the latest technology? Meanwhile dentist Dr James has to remove the front teeth of a young Scottish man who’s been reaching for the fizzy drinks late at night rather than his toothbrush! And there’s a student with a hairy problem he needs to get to the bottom of…

Wednesday 6 May 2009
8:00pm, Channel 4

This week’s episode sees the team tackle embarrassing childhood complaints, including the dramatic case of nine-year-old Charlotte with the worst veruccas that Dr Christian has ever seen. Thanks to his intervention, this little girl and her worried family get much needed help. The clinic visits a primary school with Dr Pixie checking for nits, while Dr James checks for rotten teeth. Also in the show, Dr Pixie meets a mother who’s been left with problems after giving birth to a large baby, and dentist Dr James Russell transforms the life of a woman whose teeth have been destroyed by fizzy drinks.

Wednesday 22 April 2009
8:00pm, Channel 4

So, this morbidly fascinating watch-from-behind-a-cushion show is back and yet again, as with every other series, the very first question I ask myself is, “If these people are too embarrassed by their gross whatever it is to go to their GP, why oh why would you let half the nation see it??”

It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever – unless maybe they get paid a vast amount of money maybe to let us in on their ‘secret’ genital hideousness or something… I just don’t get it, I truly don’t.

And Dr Christian Jessen is such a babe, I can’t imagine going to him with anything remotely grim or embarrassing because that’d just make it worse. I might go see him if I’d broken a nail and just wanted him to hold my hand to check it maybe, or for something totally innocuous just for the sheer joy of being near him – I’m not a stalker Christian honestly, I just really fancy you – but I have to repeat, why oh why let your grim ‘condition’ be televised when you’re so ashamed of it, you won’t let your own doctor see it?? Read more & comment »

The Embarrassing Bodies clinic is open for business again, with Doctors Christian Jessen and Pixie McKenna uncovering the nation’s toe-curling conditions. In this series they are joined by A&E medic Dr Priya Manickavasagar and leading cosmetic dentist Dr James Russell. This week’s opening episode focuses on the pelvic floor. One in three women in the UK suffer some level of leakage due to weak pelvic floor muscles. With childbirth a leading cause, the doctors arrive in Birmingham, which has the highest fertility rate in England.