Catch up TV
2018: 12. Diagnosis on Demand? The Computer Will See You Now
Could a machine replace your doctor? Dr Hannah Fry explores the incredible ways AI is revolutionising healthcare - and what this means for all of us. This film chronicles the inside story of the AI health revolution, as one company, Babylon Health, prepare for a man vs machine showdown. Can Babylon succeed in their quest to prove their AI can outperform human doctors at safe triage and accurate diagnosis?\n\nArtificial intelligence is starting to transform healthcare beyond recognition - and tech companies large and small see almost limitless commercial opportunity. The ultimate vision is for accessible, affordable, better healthcare for almost everyone with a phone. In Britain this is already radically changing how some of us see our GPs. And in a world with a chronic shortage of doctors, but where even the very poor own mobile phones, it could be truly revolutionary.\n\nTo witness this revolution from the inside, this film has privileged, behind-the-scenes access to ambitious British tech start-up Babylon Health, whose CEO Dr Ali Parsa declares with complete conviction 'we're going to do with healthcare what Google did with information.' Babylon launched its GP at Hand app in London in late 2017 and has already persuaded 30,000 Londoners to quit their old GPs to register instead for this NHS 'digital first' service, where patients discuss symptoms with an AI chatbot and see a doctor in minutes 24/7 via their phone.\n\nBut GP at Hand's arrival has proved controversial - with many traditional GPs worried about the disruptive consequences for them and their patients, and others seeking to thwart its expansion nationwide. As this film reveals, there is a fundamental culture clash at play - between the 'move fast and break things' world of tech, and the cautious, diligent, often slow-moving world of medical science. So how will both camps respond when Babylon's AI attempts to pass the diagnostic sections of the Royal College of GPs exam?\n\nAmazingly, the NHS is today the largest purchaser of fax machines in the world - and the British government are eagerly embracing AI as the\nremedy for our public health system's antiquated inefficiencies. British health secretary Matt Hancock is an unabashed evangelist for tech - boasting Babylon's GP at Hand as his GP. Yet some scientists are increasingly alarmed, questioning the current hype and asking where is the proof that AI health apps, now in widespread use, are effective and safe. How should they be evaluated and regulated? And what needs to happen before we all trust our health to AI?\n\nAs well as following a tumultuous year inside Babylon, both in the UK and Rwanda, the film also explores how another British AI Health start-up, Kheiron Medical, has successfully used deep learning to train its AI to detect breast cancer and now outperforms human radiologists at spotting the tell-tale signs of cancer in mammograms.
Source: BBC 2
Most recent episodes of Horizon
Horizon
1997-1998: Mir Mortals
First transmitted in 1998, this is the story of four men who orbited Earth on board the ill-fated Mir space station, which NASA declared unsafe in 1991. Although Mir had been li ...
10-02-2026
BBC 2
Horizon
2022: How To Sleep Well With Michael Mosley
A third of the population regularly struggle with our sleep, which rose to one in two during the pandemic - the highest it’s ever been. However, as more and more people se ...
07-01-2026
BBC 2
Horizon
2020: Hubble: The Wonders Of Space Revealed
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its launch, this film tells the remarkable story of how Hubble revealed the awe and wonder of our universe and how a team of daring astronau ...
24-04-2025
BBC 2
Horizon
2020: What's The Matter With Tony Slattery?
Tony Slattery was one of the most gifted TV comedians of the late 80s and early 90s. One of the Cambridge Footlight set that included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, ...
10-02-2025
BBC 2
Horizon
Life Story: A Horizon Special
It's 1951. There's a race on, and two of the brightest and brashest young men in Cambridge are determined to win it. The prize is glittering. Eternal fame, glory and almost cert ...
11-12-2024
BBC 2
Most popular episodes of Horizon
Horizon
2018: 9. Body Clock: What Makes Us Tick?
We all have a biological clock ticking away inside us that governs our daily rhythms. This affects our health as much as our diet and whether we exercise. So what can we do to m ...
04-02-2020
BBC 2
Horizon
2021: 1. Horizon Special: The Vaccine
The extraordinary inside story of the biggest scientific challenge of our age – following a small band of vaccine scientists around the world who took on Covid-19 and ulti ...
07-07-2021
BBC 2
Horizon
1997-1998: Mir Mortals
First transmitted in 1998, this is the story of four men who orbited Earth on board the ill-fated Mir space station, which NASA declared unsafe in 1991. Although Mir had been li ...
10-02-2026
BBC 2
Horizon
The U00a310 Million Challenge
Series exploring topical scientific issues. To celebrate its 50th birthday, Horizon invites the public to play a role in tackling the greatest challenges facing science today.
11-06-2014
BBC 2
Horizon
2018: 6. Stopping Male Suicide
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK - causing more deaths in this group than car accidents, and even more than cancer. This means that the most likely thing ...
12-05-2021
BBC 2
Horizon
2018: 7. A Week Without Lying - The Honesty Experiment
Deception is an integral part of human nature and it is estimated we all lie up to nine times a day. But what if we created a world in which we couldn't lie? In a radical experi ...
03-02-2022
BBC 2
