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Episode details

Radio 4,12 Dec 2023,28 mins

SeriesSeries 1

10. Epidurals, Embroidery, Play, Death

Best Medicine

Available for over a year

Joining Kiri this week are historian Dr Paul Craddock who unravels how vascular surgery owes a debt to 19th century Parisian embroiderer Marie-Anne Leroudier, historian Subhadra Das unearthing stories of death prevention, comedian Ria Lina pushing epidurals as the best medicine, and paediatrician Dr Guddi Singh who shows off with play. Best Medicine is your weekly dose of laughter, hope and incredible medicine. Award-winning comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean is joined by funny and fascinating comedians, doctors, scientists and historians to celebrate medicine’s inspiring past, present and future. Each week, Kiri challenges her guests to make a case for what they think is 'the best medicine', and each of them champions anything from world-changing science to an obscure invention, an everyday treatment, an uplifting worldview, an unsung hero or a futuristic cure. Whether it’s micro-robotic surgery, virtual reality syringes, Victorian clockwork surgical saws, more than a few ingenious cures for cancer, world-first lifesaving heart operations, epidurals, therapy, dancing, faith or laughter - it’s always something worth celebrating. Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean Featuring: Dr Paul Craddock, Subhadra Das, Ria Lina, Dr Guddi Singh Written by Laura Claxton, Edward Easton, Charlie George, Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Ben Rowse Producer: Ben Worsfield Assistant Producer: Tashi Radha Executive Producer: Simon Nicholls Theme tune composed by Andrew Jones A Large Time production for BBC Radio 4

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