Has TV gone too far this time? Body of terminally ill man is mummified for Channel 4 documentary

Keen: The British man agreed to feature posthumously on Channel 4 because of his interest in mummies

A man who died from a terminal illness has been mummified like an Egyptian pharaoh for a Channel 4 show.



The broadcaster looks set to find itself at the centre of another taste row after agreeing to air the macabre documentary, Mummifying Alan.



Sources say the dead man, from the West Country, had a keen interest in preservation techniques used at the time of Tutankhamun.



He is not expected to be identified until next week when his family will explain why he agreed to be part of the show.



The programme will make television history when it airs on Monday, October 24, as a scientific embalming experiment is unprecedented.



A team of pioneering scientists were brought together to perform the little-known technique used by the ancient embalmers at one of the UK’s leading pathology laboratories.



It is understood the man’s body remained in excellent condition when it was examined months after the experiment.



Archaeologists remove the lid of King Tutankhamun's sarcophagus in Egypt's Valley of the King's in 2003. He was mummified after his death in around 1323BC

Quest for answers: King Tut's preserved face (right) was revealed to the public for the first time in 2003. The documentary is trying to unearth the secrets of mummification used after his death in Egypt's 18th Dynasty



EGYPTIANS BELIEVED MUMMIFICATION WAS CRUCIAL FOR AFTERLIFE

Ancient Egyptians believed the preservation of the body after death was essential because it would be needed for the journey to the afterlife. This led to a lengthy and complex mummification process carried out by priests. The best literary account of the process comes from the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. He recorded that the process took 70 days. The earliest known Egyptian mummy, nicknamed 'Ginger' because of its hair colour, dates back to about 3,300 BC. The body was cut open and the internal organs, apart from the heart and kidneys, removed. These were dried and wrapped and placed in jars close to the sarcophagus (coffin). The brain was removed by inserting a hook through the nostril and pulling it through the nose. This was then discarded. Bags of natron salt were then placed inside and outside the body for 40 days until the body was dried out. The body was then cleansed with aromatic oils and wrapped with bandages. Some of the bodies are so well preserved that scientists have been able to identify lung cancer thanks to CT scans of the mummies (pictured below).



Researchers concentrated on the techniques used on Tutankhamun, whose body was mummified during Egypt’s 18th Dynasty.



The Pharoah’s body was remarkably preserved more than 3,000 years later when his tomb was found in 1922.



Egyptian embalmers left few clues about their ingredients, but it is known that embalming took 70 days, with 15 days of that spent cleansing and purifying the body, 40 days spent drying it and 15 days spent on wrapping, bandaging and art work.



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 recent years, chemical analysis of a shrine from the 18th Dynasty by German scientists found that the body had been preserved with cedar wood extract.



Ancient Egyptians believed the preservation of the body after death was essential because it would be needed for the journey to the afterlife.



A Channel 4 spokesman said: ‘Using a secret and complex blend of ingredients and processes, embalmers managed to stop decomposition almost entirely.’



In 2010, Channel 4 stoked controversy after advertising for a terminally-ill volunteer to take part in the project.



The advert they published read: ‘We are currently keen to talk to someone 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.’



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

Mummifying Alan will be screened on Monday, October 24.