The three programmes in this series investigate acupuncture, healing, and herbal medicine. The investigator is Kathy Sykes, professor of public engagement in science and engineering at Bristol University, who has an inviting manner, a polite scepticism, and friends who give her access to expensive equipment, such as the powerful magnetic resonance scanner at the University of York. She speaks enthusiastically, direct to camera, as she strides through the crowded streets of Shanghai in search of a master acupuncturist who will explain to her exactly how acupuncture works, or driving (apparently alone) across the deserts of Arizona to test the theory that gifted healers really can heal.

At the sharp end: presenter Kathy Sykes gets stuck into acupuncture

Credit: BBC

The trailer to the series …