Biography:Michael Mosley (broadcaster)

Short description: British journalist, producer and presenter

For other people named Michael Mosley, see Michael Mosley (disambiguation).

Michael Mosley
Born	(1957-03-22) 22 March 1957 Calcutta, India
Nationality	British
Alma mater	New College, Oxford
Occupation	Television journalist, producer, and presenter
Height	Template:Convinfobox/pri3
Spouse(s)	Clare Bailey (m. 1987)
Children	4

Michael Mosley (born 22 March 1957) is a British television journalist, producer, presenter, and former doctor who has worked for the BBC since 1985. He is probably best known as a presenter of television programmes on biology and medicine and his regular appearances on The One Show. Mosley is an intermittent fasting and low-carbohydrate diet advocate who has written books promoting the ketogenic diet.

Early life

Mosley was born in Calcutta, India. His father was a banker and his maternal grandfather was a bishop. Mosley attended a boarding school in England from the age of seven. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at New College, Oxford, before working for two years as a banker in the City of London. He then decided to move into medicine, intending to become a psychiatrist, studying at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School, now part of UCL Medical School. He is no longer a registered doctor.

Career

Upon graduation from medical school, and having become disillusioned by psychiatry, Mosley joined a trainee assistant producer scheme at the BBC in 1985.

He produced a number of science programmes, including The Human Face, three series with Professor Robert Winston, and the 2004 BBC Two engineering series Inventions That Changed the World hosted by Jeremy Clarkson. He presented Blood and Guts, Medical Mavericks and The Story of Science for television, and was the subject of a television documentary, 10 Things You Need to Know about Losing Weight. He presented Make Me for BBC One. In April–June 2010 he produced and presented the television series The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion broadcast by BBC Two.

In 2011 he made a series entitled The Brain: A Secret History, on the history of psychology and neuroscience. During the series, while describing the methods that are being employed to identify the anomalies in brain structure associated with psychopathy, his personal test results revealed he himself had these candidate brain characteristics. In the same year, he made a two-part documentary, Frontline Medicine with episodes called "Survival" and "Rebuilding Lives". These programmes described the medical advances in the treatment of military personnel during the 10 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and examined how these new techniques are being used in emergency medicine in civilian casualties in the United States and Great Britain.

His documentary The Truth About Exercise, shown first in 2012, aired current thinking about how different patterns of exercise might help achieve health benefits, the danger of sitting for prolonged periods and revealed how certain genotypes are unable to gain significant improvements in aerobic fitness (VO₂ max) by following endurance exercise programmes. His own genetic type can gain many of the benefits of exercise, primarily improved insulin response, through short, high-intensity training sessions as suggested by the research of Professor James Timmons.

In January 2013, he presented The Genius of Invention. In the documentary named The Truth About Personality, first aired on 10 July 2013, Mosley explores what science can tell us about optimism and pessimism and whether we can change our outlook.

Mosley, along with a group of medical specialists, presented a documentary series titled The Diagnostic Detectives which aired in 2020. In the series, each programme is centred around the group of doctors who choose to tackle a patient's problem. In 2021, Mosley presented a three-part series, Lose a Stone in 21 Days for Channel 4. On the programme Mosley asserted that people can lose a stone in 21 days by consuming only 800 calories a day. This advice is considered dangerous by medical experts and the programme received a backlash on social media platforms. Beat, the UK's leading charity supporting those affected by eating disorders stated that "the programme caused enough stress and anxiety to our beneficiaries that we extended our Helpline hours to support anyone affected and received 51% more contact during that time".

Low-carbohydrate diet advocacy

Mosley is a low-carbohydrate advocate who promotes intermittent fasting. He is credited with popularising the 5:2 diet, based on his close friend Valter Longo's research. In August 2012, he appeared on the BBC2 Horizon documentary Eat, Fast & Live Longer. In early 2013 he published The Fast Diet with Mimi Spencer.

Recently, Mosley advocates The Fast 800 Diet, a low-carb Mediterranean diet with intermittent fasting that follows a daily 800-calorie eating plan. His book The Fast 800 Keto combines a ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting.

Television

Year	Title	Channel	Notes
2007	Medical Mavericks	BBC Four
2008	Blood and Guts	BBC Two
2009	Make Me	BBC One
2010	The Brain - A Secret History	BBC Four
2010	The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion	BBC Two	Six-part series.
2010	Pleasure and Pain	BBC One
2010	The Young Ones	BBC One
2011	Ten Things about Weight Loss	BBC One
2011	Inside the Human Body	BBC One	Four-part series and a Best of Series episode.
2012	Guts: The Strange and Mysterious World of the Human Stomach	BBC Four	Also referred to as Inside Michael Mosley.
2012	Eat, Fast and Live longer	BBC Two
2012	Truth about Exercise	BBC Two
2013	One Show	BBC One	Topical films about science.
2013	Horizon Specials	BBC Two
2013	The Truth About...	BBC Two
2013	Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines	BBC Four	Three-part series.
2013	Winter Viruses and How to Beat Them	BBC Two	Co presented with Alice Roberts.
2013	The Genius of Invention	BBC Two	Four-part series between 24 January and 14 February. Co-presented with Mark Miodownik and Cassie Newland.
2013	The Truth About Personality	BBC Two	A Horizon (BBC TV series) documentary.
2013–present	Trust Me, I'm a Doctor	BBC Two
2014	Infested! Living with Parasites	BBC Four
2014	Should I Eat Meat?	BBC Two	Total of two episodes as a part of Horizon 2014–2015 series.
2015	Is your Brain Male or Female	BBC Two	Episode 7 of Horizon 2014–2015 series.
2015	Countdown to Life: the Extraordinary Making of You	BBC Two	Three-part series.
2015	Are Health Tests Really a Good Idea?	BBC Two
2016	E-Cigarettes: Miracle or Menace?	BBC Two
2016	Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility	BBC Four
2017	Meet the Humans	BBC Earth	Five-part series.
2021	21 Day Body Turnaround with Michael Mosley	Channel 4	Three-part series.
2021	Lose a Stone in 21 Days with Michael Mosley	Channel 4	Three-part series.
2021	Horizon: How To Sleep Well	BBC Two	Upcoming programme
2021	Australia's Health Revolution	SBS	Three-part series tackling type 2 diabetes in Australia.
2022	Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat?	Channel 4	Two-part series.

Awards and honours

In 1994, Ulcer Wars, his 16 May 1994 Horizon documentary, reported the link between Helicobacter pylori and gastric ulcers, discovered by Australian scientists Robin Warren and Barry Marshall. He was named Medical Journalist of the Year in 1995 by the British Medical Association. In 1996, the programme was noted as one of the most important factors to influence British general practitioners' prescribing habits.

In 2002, Mosley was nominated for an Emmy as an Executive Producer for The Human Face with John Cleese.

Personal life

Mosley is married to Clare Bailey, a GP; they have four children. He has reversed his Type 2 diabetes with diet and exercise. In a BBC documentary on sleep, Mosley revealed he has chronic insomnia. He published Fast Asleep in 2019.

Selected publications

• Mosley, Michael; Spencer, Mimi (2013). The Fast Diet : The Secret of Intermittent Fasting - Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, Live Longer. London: Short Books. ISBN 9781780721675. 
• Mosley, Michael; Bee, Peta (2013). Fast exercise : the smart route to health & fitness. London: Short Books. ISBN 9781780721989. OCLC 862761007. 
• Mosley, Michael; Spencer, Mimi (2015). The FastLife : lose weight, stay healthy, and live longer with the simple secrets of intermittent fasting and high-intensity training. New York: Atria Books. ISBN 9781501127984. OCLC 922597339. 
• Mosley, Michael (2016). The 8-week blood sugar diet : how to beat diabetes fast (and stay off medication) (First ed.). New York: Atria Books. ISBN 9781501111242. OCLC 946536100. 
• Mosley, Michael (2017). The Clever Gut diet (First ed.). New York: Atria Books. ISBN 9781501172748. OCLC 1090297589. 
• Mosley, Michael (2019). The Fast 800 diet: discover the ideal fasting formula to shed pounds, fight disease, and boost your overall health (First ed.). New York: Atria Books. ISBN 978-1-9821-0689-8. OCLC 1127182027. 
• Mosley, Michael (2020). Fast asleep : improve brain function, lose weight, boost your mood, reduce stress, and become a better sleeper (First ed.). New York: Atria Books. ISBN 9781982106928. OCLC 1181841827. 
• Mosley, Michael (2020). COVID-19 : everything you need to know about the Corona Virus and the race for the vaccine (First ed.). New York: Atria Books. ISBN 9781982164744. OCLC 1156472581. 
• Mosley, Michael (2021). The Fast 800 Keto: Eat well, burn fat, manage your weight long-term (First ed.). Short Books. ISBN 9781780725024. 

External links

• Michael Mosley on IMDb
• Profile at JLA agency
• Michael Mosley on the Eden channel website
• Michael Mosley - BBC One Show