Wanted: Terminally Ill Volunteer Willing to be Mummified in TV Documentary

dailymail - Channel 4 looks set to become embroiled in another taste row after backing a project which seeks to mummify a terminally-ill volunteer for a TV documentary.

The body of the candidate selected to be embalmed could then end up being displayed in a museum.

If the project goes ahead it will follow a trail of programmes which seek to challenge views on death. Television audiences have been shown an autopsy, carried out by the controversial German anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens, and an on-screen assisted suicide.

Channel 4 and production company Fulcrum TV have advertised in magazines for possible candidates to volunteer.

The advert reads: 'We are currently keen to talk to some one who, faced with the knowledge of their own terminal illness and all that it entails, would nonetheless consider undergoing the process of an ancient Egyptian embalming.'

An English scientist claims to have unlocked the secrets of mummification. His efforts at recreating the work of Egyptians will be the subject of the documentary.

Embalming was a common death ritual for 3,000 years, when some cultures believed it was necessary preparation for the afterlife.

The Egyptians were able to 'mummify' bodies for longer than any other civilisation, and are believed to have used resins found only in Burma - more than 4,000 miles from Egypt - in the process.

Fulcrum TV's Richard Belfield told a reporter from the Independent newspaper, posing as a volunteer: 'We would like to film with you over the next few months to understand who you are and what sort of person you are so the viewers get to know you and have a proper emotional response to you.

'It may sound rather macabre but we have mummified a large number of pigs to check that the process worked and it does. We have lined up scientists to support the project and found a place approved by the Human Tissue Authority where the mummification would take place.

'Afterwards one thought was – though this is not obligatory – to put the body in an exhibition in a proper museum so people can properly understand the mummification process. That is something we would be flexible about.

'But we would like to keep the body for two or three years to see that the mummification process worked. Then the normal funeral arrangements could be made.'

He said payment would not be made, but that costs would be covered.

Mr Belfield added: 'The Egyptians were extremely clever organic chemists. Some of the materials they used came from as far afield as Burma and the Far East. One resin they used we know only existed in Burma. One thing we want to explore is how they developed their knowledge of chemistry.'

A Channel 4 spokesman told the newspaper that it had given development funds to Fulcrum. These are used to look into the project's viability. The spokesman added: 'We’re fascinated by the research that is taking place. If the scientists are able to find a willing donor we’d be interested in following the process.

'And if you were to question why we were interested we’d say "If the scientists have solved one of the ancient world’s most enduring mysteries [the process of mummification] it would give us a unique insight into science and Egyptian history and may well prove to have other significant benefits for medical science."

In recent years there have been several programmes which seek to challenge views on death.

Eight years ago, Dr von Hagens performed an autopsy in front of a theatre audience in East London, the first in public for 170 years.

Wearing a black hat throughout, he cut up the body of a 72-year-old former chain-smoking German alcoholic in front of 500 people.

Before he carried it out he was warned by the Department of Health that he would be breaking the Anatomy Act by holding a post-mortem examination on unlicensed premises.

The autopsy was shown on Channel 4 and resulted in 130 complaints.

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