Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret

15 September 2011

TX: Monday 24th October 2011, 9pm, Channel 4

It is a mystery that has baffled scientists for centuries: how were the ancient Egyptians able to preserve their greatest pharaohs perfectly for millennia? Now, 3000 years later, a terminally ill British man called Alan has donated his body so that leading experts can, for the first time, apply the secret mummification formula to create a 21st-century mummy.

Filmed inside one of the UK's leading forensic pathology labs, a team of scientists have come together to unlock the preservation techniques used during the 'Golden Age' of Tutankhamen. The 18th Dynasty was a time of huge cultural change, but it also marked the pinnacle of Egyptian embalming techniques. Using a secret and complex blend of ingredients and processes, embalmers managed to stop decomposition almost entirely.

But what were the mysterious and complex recipes they were using? Did they really understand the science behind them? And if so, could this represent the greatest scientific achievement of ancient Egypt?

Prod: Laura Jones

Dir: Kenny Scott

Exec Prods: Justine Kershaw, Gillian Mosely

Prod Co: Blink Films