BBC4 adds medical doc Extra Life

Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer was picked up by Cineflix yesterday

UK pubcaster BBC4 has picked up medical science doc Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer from distributor Cineflix Rights, the day after the London-based outfit added the four-part series to its slate.

The show, presented by historian David Olusoga and author Steven Johnson, examines four key steps in humanity’s containment of disease and how we have learned from previous pandemics.

It focuses on one human medical innovation per episode, ranging from vaccines to simply washing our hands.

The series is produced by Nutopia, the company founded by former BBC2 controller Jane Root, for the BBC and US pubcaster PBS.

Root exec produces along with Nutopia’s Nicola Moody and Fiona Caldwell, and Johnson. Duncan Singh, Helen Sage, Tristan Quinn, David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg direct the series.