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Secret Universe - The Hidden Life of the Cell

David Tennant

Mike Davis

Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell

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Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

21/10/2012

BBC Two - Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell

Revealing the machinery of the human cell system through the narrative of viral infection.

Documentary exploring the inner world of the human cellular structure via the narrative of a viral infection from within the world of a single cell.

There is a battle playing out inside your body right now. It started billions of years ago and it is still being fought in every one of us every minute of every day. It is the story of a viral infection, the battle for the cell. 

This film reveals the exquisite machinery of the human cell system from within the inner world of the cell itself - from the frenetic membrane surface that acts as a security system for everything passing in and out of the cell, the dynamic highways that transport cargo across the cell and the remarkable turbines that power the whole cellular world to the amazing nucleus housing DNA and the construction of thousands of different proteins all with unique tasks. The virus intends to commandeer this system to one selfish end: to make more viruses. And they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

Exploring the very latest ideas about the evolution of life on earth and the bio-chemical processes at the heart of every one of us, and revealing a world smaller than it is possible to comprehend, in a story large enough to fill the biggest imaginations. With contributions from Professor Bonnie L Bassler of Princeton University, Dr Nick Lane and Professor Steve Jones of University College London and Cambridge University's Susanna Bidgood.

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