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Gavin Francis leads us through a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.

Francis has dissected many human faces during medical training, and as a demonstrator of anatomy, but he has never lost the sense of privilege that doing so brings.

Our faces are key to our human identity – when faces are available, we pay more attention to them than to any part of the visual world. When our ability to use our facial muscles to convey our emotions is harmed, as in Bell’s palsy, it can be socially devastating.

But even when a face is damaged, it’s still vital to our sense of self.

Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs

Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4 in 2015.