You Are Old, Father William
A look at what happens to our body and our mind as we get older. We are still very far from finding an elixir of youth but scientific research over the past 20 years has enabled us to understand much better how we decay as we grow older. Did you know that your heart ages much faster than your liver? Not only do different parts of the body age at different rates but a few functions actually get better with age. Research pinpoints what goes wrong in the brain when people become senile and offers the hope that treatment for senility will eventually become available. Probably we under-estimate what old people can do and we now know how to stay as young as possible for as long as possible.
Film editor SIMON ROSE
Editor SIMON CAMPBELL-JONES
Written and produced by DAVID COHEN Preview: page 25
Decision, Tuesday at 8.10 on BBC1