Michael Mosley 'collapsed' during holiday hike

Tributes paid to 'national treasure' who did so much to popularise science

Michael Mosley
Michael Mosley will be remembered for his willingness to carry out medical experiments on himself
(Image credit: Brook Mitchell / Getty Images)

The family of missing TV presenter Dr Michael Mosley confirmed that his body was found on the Greek island of Symi on Sunday morning. 

Many tributes have been paid to the TV doctor and columnist, who popularised the 5:2 diet and starred in shows such as "Lose a Stone in 21 Days".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"He so very nearly made it," said his wife Dr Clare Bailey Mosley in a statement yesterday. After an "incredible climb" he "took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn't be easily seen". 

She said it was "devastating" to have lost her "wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband".

In 2002 he'd received an Emmy nomination for his behind-the-scenes work on John Cleese's documentary "The Human Face" and, from 2008, "started making appearances in front of the camera".

Mosley will be remembered not only for his "popularising and explanation of science", fellow TV doctor Phil Hammond told Sky News, but the fact that he was willing to experiment on himself. "He would eat the tapeworm. He'd have the sigmoidoscopy. He'd smoke a cigarette and see what it did to him."

He was simply, said Dr Saleyha Ahsan, his co-presenter on "Trust Me, I'm A Doctor", a "national treasure".

Explore More

Hollie Clemence is the UK executive editor. She joined the team in 2011 and spent six years as news editor for the site, during which time the country had three general elections, a Brexit referendum, a Covid pandemic and a new generation of British royals. Before that, she was a reporter for IHS Jane’s Police Review, and travelled the country interviewing police chiefs, politicians and rank-and-file officers, occasionally from the back of a helicopter or police van. She has a master’s in magazine journalism from City University, London, and has written for publications and websites including TheTimes.co.uk and Police Oracle.