1. The Question of Why

A five-part drama serial about one of the oldest of human diseases.

Malaria has blighted human life in parts of the world for as long as humans have been humans.

The mosquito, the parasite it carries, and the human bloodstream are evolving together. In many places the parasite still has the upper hand. The Question of Why: the first of five dramas based on facts and taking in ancient historical itches and ideas about the disease and the latest scientific attempts to understand and outwit it.

The disease caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of female mosquitoes came to humans probably from gorillas a long time ago. Through recorded history the fever-prompting disease has shadowed humans almost everywhere warm enough for mosquitoes to live between the Poles. We have evolved together.

It is still the biggest killer of children in parts of the world.

Written by Lavinia Greenlaw.

Narrator: Siobhan Redmond.

Other parts played by:

Russell Boulter
Richard Bremmer
David Collins
Jasmine Hyde
John Mackay

Made with the research assistance of Wellcome Trust.

Medical/science adviser: Julian Rayner, Sanger Institute.

Music and sound design: Jon Nicholls.

Producer: Tim Dee

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.