Typhoid Mary
The last programme in this series tells the story of the woman judged to be such a dangerto public health that she was incarcerated by the city of New York for 23 years.
In the winter of 1906, Dr George Soper was summoned to Oyster Bay, Long Island, to investigate a mystery. Why had typhoid fever broken out in the house of a rich New York banker? He uncovered an extraordinary trail of sickness and death left by roving Irish cook Mary Mallon.
Two of the people who met Typhoid
Mary in her isolation hospital speakfor the first time about their mysterious friend. Her story quickly became a medical legend which still has resonance today. Faced with an Aids epidemic, does the state have a right to lock up people for the good of society? Producer Jonathan Gili ; Editor Laurence Rees