[bloodrayne]

Want To Be Dead Famous?

Channel 4 Hunts Donor For Film On Decomposing Corpse

Channel 4 is searching for a terminally ill patient who will allow their corpse to be filmed decomposing in a trailblazing TV documentary.

The experiment, called Dust to Dust, will study the breakdown of human flesh over several months. It is expected to provide valuable data for pathologists investigating murders.

Controversially, the body is likely to be housed in London's Science Museum where the public will be able to view the process.

Last night TV campaigners were outraged. Mediawatch-UK declared: "To call for a terminally ill volunteer is extraordinary. This is the worst kind of voyeurism. It will alienate viewers and advertisers."

Media March added: "It's liable to be turned into a horror show and will cause great offence."

But Channel 4 programming chief Kevin Lygo hit back: "This is a scientific experiment and a valid subject. Scientists are woefully uninformed about what happens to the body after death.

"There'll be nothing salacious about it. If it becomes too tacky we won't do it. But we don't mind the controversy." The project - made with the Science Museum - will be led by pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, president of the British Association in Forensic Medicine. He said: "This is an urgently required step forward in research." It is the first time human decomposition has been scientifically studied in Britain.

Dust to Dust follows Channel 4's 'The Autopsy', shown two years ago, in which a German professor dissected a corpse on screen.