Squeamish viewers tuning into Channel 4 on Wednesday afternoon might want to look away as the broadcaster airs the first TV ad showing a live surgical procedure.
Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK have teamed up to air a colonoscopy being performed live on a patient in what the two organisations claim is a world first in broadcasting.
The 90-second TV ad, which will rather incongruously air at 3.25pm on Wednesday during the property programme A New Life in the Sun, will demonstrate an operation to remove two bowel polyps inside Philip McSparron.
McSparron, who started getting regular screenings for cancer after his brother’s bowel cancer was spotted in early 2010, said he hoped the live broadcast of his procedure would show people that it is “not something to be frightened of”.
“Hopefully people will be interested in seeing the live footage and it will encourage them to be more willing to talk about cancer and think about taking up regular screening,” he said. McSparron is not being paid for his appearance in the ad.
Bowel polyps are common, and not usually cancerous, but some can become cancerous if left untreated. The surgery will be performed by Dr Sunil Dolwani, at the Cardiff & Vale University hospital, who will give a running commentary on what viewers are seeing.
Cancer Research UK hopes the procedure, which will see a camera on a flexible tube called a colonoscope inserted into McSparron’s anus, will help to show the positive impact research has had in helping to treat cancer. The TV ad, titled Live from the Inside, will be promoted from Monday with 10-second teaser trails on Channel 4.
The charity will simultaneously stream the ad on Facebook, with a cancer nurse to field questions posted by social media users. Channel 4 will also simultaneously broadcast the event across its social media accounts.
For those keen to see the ad but stuck at work or unable to tune in online, a 60-second version will be rebroadcast at 9.30pm during the Channel 4 drama No Offence. The show attracts an audience of almost 2 million viewers.
The live ad has to be first broadcast during daytime TV as the surgery has to take place during routine hospital hours.
In 2008, 2.2 million viewers watched the live broadcast of a team skydive in a three-minute, £500,000 ad for Honda. Almost 170,000 tuned in just to watch the TV advert, not the edition of Come Dine With Me during which the ad had been aired. It was the first live ad broadcast on UK TV.
The live colonoscopy broadcast forms part of Cancer Research UK’s “Right Now” campaign, which was launched on Boxing Day. The campaign aims to show the reality of day-to-day life for patients, their loved ones, researchers and medical staff. The organisation says that showing the colonoscopy highlights how investment in cancer research has helped develop simpler and more effective tests and treatments.
“Broadcasting Philip’s colonoscopy live gives us the opportunity to show one of the many people across the UK who is benefiting from procedures that wouldn’t be possible without research,” said Ed Aspel, of Cancer Research UK. “We want viewers to join us to experience the unique insight of seeing live inside the human body, and witness a procedure that can actually prevent cancer from developing.”
The organisation does not receive any government funding for its cancer research, relying on charitable donations.
Last month, Channel 4 teamed up with the film studio 21st Century Fox to air a live ad of a stuntman performing a 30-metre (100ft) freefall in a commercial break during the TV show Humans.
The “leap of faith” stunt was part of the promotion of the film Assassin’s Creed, which sees the character played by the actor Michael Fassbender jump from a similar height.
In 2014, Channel 4 also collaborated with Google and Capitol Records, the Universal Music-owned label, to take over a whole 3.5-minute ad break to air Sam Smith singing his hit Stay With Me live from a performance at Camden’s Roundhouse venue in London.
- This article was amended on 16 January 2017. An earlier version said the ad would air during A Place In The Sun. It is being broadcast during A New Life in the Sun instead.