The series
Medicine Men is a major new four-part documentary series that sees two young British doctors, Chris and Xand van Tulleken, who also happen to be identical twins, immerse themselves in radically different cultures in four of the most extreme places on earth. The twins explore the world of tribal medicine, and experiment with body mutilation, hallucinogenic plants, toxic potions and the superstitions of Shamen to discover whether traditional forms of healing have anything to teach us about curing illness.
Adamant that western medicine is far from having all the answers, the twins investigate how tribal communities' dependence on the natural resources they have at their disposal shapes their understanding of their bodies, health and medicine. The series also examines, most crucially, what we can learn from their example.
In the first programme, Chris and Xand travel to Equatorial Africa - one of the most disease-ridden places on earth - to live with the Bayaka pygmies who inhabit the densely forested, swamp infested Congo Basin. It is a singularly unforgiving environment, yet the Bayaka have thrived for tens of thousands of years in a place proven to be the incubator for the most deadly viruses known to man, including Ebola and HIV.
The remainder of the series sees the twins travel through Asia to explore the region's relationship between mind and body and tackle the clash between superstition and science. In the Arctic, they live with an indigenous community who survive almost exclusively on meat, blubber and fish and yet have astonishingly low levels of cardiovascular disease and, finally, they stay with the Asháninka, who inhabit the foothills of the Peruvian Andes - one the most botanically diverse place on earth.
