Episode 1 Long Live Britain

Hello and welcome to Manchester's Etihad Stadium.

Today, we begin an incredible quest that could add years

to hundreds of people's lives.

30,000 die-hard rugby fans are about to arrive

for a whole day of top sporting action.

But they'll also be greeted by this -

our mobile health centre,

all set for Britain's biggest ever health screening.

We'll be looking to see how many of them have the warning signs of three killer diseases

that can knock years or even decades off your life.

But the good news is, they're all preventable if caught early enough.

The conditions we're talking about today are type II diabetes,

liver disease and heart disease,

because, together, they kill over 100,000 Britons a year.

And, shockingly, more than ten million of us

could develop them in the future.

So today, we want to save lives.

You are 0.1 away from a diagnosis of diabetes.

Obviously, if I hadn't come here,

five years down the line, I could have had a big problem.

We're joining forces with the NHS and leading health charities

to screen people on a scale never seen before.

So do you have a curry every day for breakfast?

Not every day, probably every other day.

We'll be revealing some top tips

that will help you avoid our three silent killers.

From showing you where your waistline really is...

-Up there?!

-Yes.

..to how much food you can eat before piling on the pounds.

Your meal needs to fit into those cupped hands.

And as these diseases can affect all of us,

we'll also be getting up close and personal

with some well-known TV faces.

-5ft 3.

-I'm shrinking.

And finding out which of them need to get to grips with their health.

For years, I sort of got away with it. Now, all of a sudden,

I'm a middle-aged fella and I'm not getting away with it.

And in our own unique way,

we'll show what our three conditions really do to your body...

I can't move my fingers

because of the lard!

..as we try to help stop these silent killers in their tracks.

So, today, we're going to see

if we can help a lot of people live a lot, lot longer.

The Magic Weekend and a huge crowd of 30,000 is arriving

for one of Britain's top rugby league events.

And we've got dozens of doctors and nurses,

and the latest medical equipment on hand,

to screen more people in a single day than ever before.

And they'll all start here, at level one.

These desks will soon be manned

by 50 volunteer nurses.

Their mission - to determine people's risk of developing

one of the three conditions.

And they're going to start with this - a set of probing questions

that will get to the truth about what they eat,

what they drink, how much they exercise and their family history.

They'll also measure weight and waistlines

to see if these are increasing their risk.

At the end of level one, many people will be given the all clear,

but others may be told they could be at risk in the future

if they don't make some changes now.

And those people will either go to their GP for further tests

or they can come here, to our level-two medical area.

Here, a whole host of tests will give them an insight

into exactly what's going on inside their bodies

and why they might be at risk.

Today's mission could be life-changing.

30,000 fans will soon fill this stadium,

but statistics say that up to 6,000 of them could lose years of life

to one of our three conditions.

Across the country,

cases of liver disease have soared by 30% in the last decade.

It affects your movement,

you are constantly hurting

and you're always tired and it just affects your day-to-day living.

It just makes it really hard.

And cases of type II diabetes have almost doubled

over the last 15 years.

It is a horrible, revolting disease

that will do all sorts of damage to you, if you let it.

And heart disease still remains Britain's single biggest killer

for both men and women.

Coronary disease, coronary heart disease,

kills three times more women than breast cancer.

These conditions can often be prevented and sometimes reversed

if they're caught early enough.

So we want to check out as many people as possible

for the warning signs.

In just a few minutes, we'll be opening the doors to our screening centre,

but it's not just the people here that we're hoping to help.

These diseases can affect all of us, no matter where we come from,

so we invited a whole host of well-known faces to be screened

by our Long Live Britain GP, Dr Phil Hammond, and this is what happened.

You might think celebrities live the dream,

but actresses, chefs and even former health ministers

are just as likely to get one of our silent killers as anyone else.

So I'm getting up close and personal with loads of celebs

to find out who's at risk of one of our silent killers.

'With my own special brand of TLC,

'I want to help them make changes

'that will give them many more years of life.'

There is always that edge of fear about going in,

but it's good to know rather than not.

Doctors and nurses on the whole, I prefer to keep away from, if I can.

'But what's to be scared of?

'After all, my first tools are only a telling tape measure

'and sobering scales.

'Welcome to my level-one screening.'

-I make you 180.

-What's that in inches?

Just under 5ft 11.

I used to be 6ft 1! Is it when you get older you get shorter?

Just over 5ft 10. Are you happy with that?

-Can we say 5ft 11?

-No.

'Now I've got the measure of things...'

Just step on here, then.

'..it's time for more weighty affairs.'

-It's not a talking scale, is it?

-No.

Cos last time I got on a talking scale, it really had a go at me.

A little over 17 stone.

Slightly heavier than Frank Bruno.

'The final tool in my armoury - the humble tape measure.'

Try and find the waist first.

That's a challenge in itself.

I've got quite a prominent belly button. Pushes the tape out.

'And now it's time to find out

'what our celebs really get up to in private

'with our special Long Live Britain health questionnaire.'

The questionnaires ask very specific questions,

so we've got a good idea,

based on their history and their habits and their family history,

what risk category they are in.

'First up, alcohol.

'We all like a tipple, but who's downing what?'

Do you drink alcohol every day?

If I'm at home on my own, I don't drink,

but unfortunately, I'm never on my own.

-How often do you have a drink containing alcohol?

-I like bubbles

and I will have a nice couple of glasses of champagne with friends.

How often during the last year have you felt guilty or remorseful

after drinking?

I often feel guilty or remorseful, but seldom after drinking.

'And now, for my favourites - fitness, fags and food.'

Do you eat takeaways or ready meals more than twice a week?

Takeaways, maybe once a week.

I'm fat, but I'm fit.

I go to the boxing gym and I skip and I spar and I hit the bag.

Have you ever smoked?

-I'm down to about...

-Honestly.

..20.

'And lastly, a touch of who do you think you are

'with some family history.'

Are all your brothers and sisters still alive?

No. Three of them have passed away.

-Do you know what of?

-Through heart disease.

My dad, who's sadly no longer with us, was diabetic,

he was type II, and also my mum's diabetic.

'Believe it or not,

'of all the celebrities in my level-one screening,

'I'm only discharging one with a clean bill of health.

'And why am I not surprised it's Edwina Currie?!'

Pretty healthy. You should be pleased with that.

Pretty embarrassing, a former Health Minister, if you were terribly unhealthy.

He seemed very happy,

to my pleasure and delight,

and my pulse is good and...

Well, I'm a bit surprised, to be honest.

'But the other ten aren't getting off so lightly

'and in true showbiz style, they're all getting call-backs.'

As soon as Phil said to me, "I'm going to do some tests,"

I started thinking, "Hold on a minute, he fancies something's wrong."

It changed the mood of everything straight away. I thought,

"He knows something I don't know."

God forbid, I don't want to live till I'm 100,

but I wouldn't mind living till I'm 85, perhaps 95,

so I've got another 20 years, which I'd quite like to be healthy for.

We'll be finding out later

what happened when our celebrities went through their medical tests,

but now we're making the final preparations before we open the doors.

We want to get as many people as possible

to take action against our three silent killers.

Our nurses are ready to man the 50 level-one testing stations.

And our team of doctors is standing by at the stadium

and a local hospital with the latest diagnostic equipment.

We also have a team of statisticians.

They're going to crunch the numbers

to let us know how many years of life we could give back to people today

if we help them avoid these silent killers.

It's time to open the doors. We're off!

-What about sugary drinks?

-I'm afraid so. Bit of a weakness.

I eat quite healthily, although it doesn't appear from the outside.

-I don't smoke cigarettes.

-Oh, right.

-I smoke little cigars.

-Uh-huh.

As with our celebs, level-one screening is simple -

weight, waist and height measurements

and our special health questionnaire.

-Do you know what your waist circumference is?

-46.

-46.

Right, well, that's 54 inches.

-Pat, what's it like having your waistline measured?

-Terrible.

A little bit scary.

It seems low tech, Kathy, but it's an important measurement, isn't it?

It is, and sometimes simple measures are the best.

And are you looking for body shape or size here?

Well, we're looking for body shape

because that tells us about the distribution of fat,

-as well as just being overweight.

-Right.

Excuse me...

So your waist size is a basic but important measurement

that can help identify your level of risk,

but it seems that not all of us are measuring this vital statistic correctly.

Dr Phil took Phil Tufnell out into Manchester to find out why.

'Now, for some strange reason,

'a lot of us seem to think our midriffs

'are much smaller than they really are

'and, particularly, us blokes.

'So, today, I'm leading a church congregation

'in a very different type of service.'

We're going to play Phil and Phil's Waistline Challenge.

Who wants to play Phil and Phil's Waistline Challenge?

THEY CHEER

OK, working on the basis I wouldn't ask you to do anything I wouldn't ask Phil to do first,

Phil, you're my guinea pig.

I want you to write what you think your waist circumference is.

-A man's waist. Every man should know his waist circumference, and every woman. You write it down.

-OK.

-I reckon.

-Show it.

Ooh! 34 inches.

What do we reckon? Does Phil look 34 inches to you?

-ALL: Yeah.

-Yeah, I'm quite slim.

All the blokes, "Yeah, yeah!", and all the women are going, "Well, I don't know..."

Thank you.

'Now Phil's had a guess at the scale of his midriff,

'it's time for the congregation to estimate theirs.'

You've gone for 36 inches. Why was that, sir?

36 inches.

Why have you chosen that?

I didn't choose it. That is what I am!

LAUGHTER

What's that 38 based on? How do you know it's 38?

Size of my jeans.

-Size of your jeans, OK.

-Size of the jeans.

-Size of the jeans.

'But are these estimates just wishful thinking? It's time to find out.'

What you need to do... AUDIENCE: Whoo!

And just hold it there for a bit, mate, sorry.

To find out what your waistline is,

you actually go between

the top here on the pubic bone,

there's a little iliac crest there,

the knobbly bit at the top, OK?

And the top of the lower rib,

and it's midway between the two.

-In most people...

-Up there?

-Yes.

In most people, it's roughly the level of your tummy button.

Come on, come on.

No sucking in, normal breathing. Breathe in, breathe, no sucking in.

-Whoa!

-Oh, my word.

-Let's just turn round here, so everyone can see. 37.

-37.

37!

'So Phil's estimate was a whole three inches out.

'But how do the rest of my waistline congregation measure up?'

Let's have a look at those cards.

Oh, not bad, not bad.

OK. That's very exciting, look at those, a few differences.

Now, if you got it right within an inch either way,

in a very self-satisfied way, take your card down.

Oh. Yeah.

-Beautiful. Have you noticed?

-Yeah.

Loads of the girls got it right, blokes - all over the place.

-Team Tufnell.

-What did I say?

-Yeah, you said exactly that.

'But why were so many of the men so far off

'when it came to this vital statistic?'

-36, 40. Four inches' difference, Giles.

-Four out.

-You're four out.

-Now, show us, you stand up for us, show us your jeans.

-Yep.

-Those jeans, nice, 36?

-Yep.

The reason you're misinformed,

like just about everyone else in this country,

is that the manufacturers who make the jeans sell them to you as waist size,

whereas, in fact, they're hip size.

So inside, it will say waist size 36 for you.

In fact, that's your hip size. Your waist size is 40.

So it's the very bad people selling you the jeans.

'The maximum safe size of your waist depends on your sex

'and ethnic background.

'But here's a really simple tip to keep things nice and easy -

'aim for your waist to be less than half your height.'

So I am six feet, which is 72 inches.

My waist circumference should be 36 inches or less.

Whip it up. Let's have a look, see how you are.

36? Can I do a 36?

Oh, yeah, no, 36-and-a-half. Not too bad.

-So not bad, I'm nearly there, I'm nearly there.

-Not too bad. Not too bad.

Big round of applause for Dr Phil!

'But now what I want to know is why a large waistline is so dangerous.

'Back at our screening,

'we've brought along a million-pound MRI scanner

'to help give us the answer.'

Having a big waistline isn't great for your health,

and an MRI scan can help us understand why.

-Doc, what's going on?

-Absolutely, Phil.

We've just scanned this lady and, as you can see here,

what we're looking at now,

we're not just looking at the fat on the outside,

which is what we can all see in your own body,

you can estimate the fat on the outside.

We're looking at the fat on the inside

and the MR scan shows us beautifully

how much fat there is on the inside of the abdomen.

The white fat around the organs,

this is the fat which is releasing chemicals and hormones

that damage the organs and it can, ultimately, you know,

give rise to diabetes and heart disease.

So this incredible machine shows

that, when you have a large waistline,

you're more likely to have a lot of fat on the inside as well.

And that can be a really dangerous thing.

'We've now screened over 100 people here in Manchester,

'and more are arriving every hour.'

Oh! Oh, my God! Oh, my God.

'So far, our nurses are telling more than half

'that their waistline is putting them at risk

'and 48-year-old Shanique is one of them.'

45 inches.

-Are you serious?

-Don't be scared. Yes. It's 45 inches.

You're at a high risk of diabetes.

-I fit the criteria...

-Yeah.

-..um, because of my waist and my weight.

-Yeah.

And because there's been diabetes in my family

-and stuff like that, so I fit the criteria for that.

-Yeah.

-So, basically, it's just getting tested now from the doctor.

-Yeah.

Ooh.

Shanique is now going to have a test

to see if she already has type II diabetes.

Even if she gets a positive diagnosis,

if we've caught her in time,

it could make a big difference to her future.

-Thank you.

-All the very best. I hope your team wins.

We've been running for about an hour-and-a-half

-and Jen is our stats lady...

-I am.

..to fill us in on all the numbers. You love this, don't you?

I do a little bit.

OK, where are we at?

We've got 168 people so far that have come through the door

and, actually, interestingly, 80% of people who we've looked at so far

-are at an increased risk of diabetes.

-Why's that?

Well, it turns out that 64% of people so far are overweight

and, in fact, 31% of people are classified as obese.

Gosh, that's staggering!

Yeah, and so, obviously, obesity and, you know, being overweight

is one of the major risk factors for diabetes,

and that's why we're seeing such a high number of people at an increased risk.

If someone finds that their questionnaire suggests

that they are at risk of developing one of these three conditions,

then they will be advised to go to their GP for tests and advice,

and when Dr Phil, our GP, screened our celebrities,

he discovered, incredibly,

that almost all of them needed further investigation.

So what did the tests reveal?

I'm screening celebs to find three with risk factors

for type II diabetes, liver and heart disease.

I want to help turn their health around

and give them many more years of life.

But from the level-one questionnaire,

ten of my celebs are still on the at-risk list.

So it's time for my level-two screening.

It'd be a bit of a shock

if the doctor said to me there is something wrong,

but at the same time, I'd like to know.

Ah!

-Really?

-No, no.

HE CHUCKLES

'First up, heart disease,

'and I want to test two of my remaining ten celebs

'for too much damaging cholesterol.'

Your cholesterol ratio is 5.9

and we'd like you to be around about 4,

so that's a bit high.

'Cigarettes can also push up cholesterol

'and I suspect that's what's happening to Crissy Rock.'

Your heart risk is 15.1%.

That means that, of 100 people like you, over the next ten years,

15 will have a heart attack or a stroke.

I think 15% is quite a high risk.

It's very high.

When I was waiting for the results,

I didn't think that I was high risk at all, I think I was no risk.

When he said I'm a risk,

it was like a punch in the face, like, hang on a minute...

'Next, liver disease.

'I'm sending three of my ten celebs

'to a nearby hospital for a liver scan.'

Louise, are you sure there's a liver there?

'This high-tech scanner uses ultrasound

'to see if the liver's been damaged or scarred.'

Just come towards the edge of the bed for me slightly. There you go.

'And it's a worthwhile visit for Ricky Grover.'

What this does suggest

is that you have a little bit of inflammation there

and perhaps a small amount of scarring.

That's actually reversible,

if you do something about it now.

'But a few simple changes could now give Ricky a much brighter future.'

For years, I sort of got away with it. Now, all of a sudden,

I'm a middle-aged fella and I'm not getting away with it.

HE MOANS

'Back at my clinic, I now want to see who's at risk of type II diabetes.

'And a massive eight out of ten of my celebs need checking out.'

Blood and me don't go together.

Seeing I'm a chef, I should be a bit more brave than that.

'High levels of glucose in the blood is a warning sign,

'so that's what I'm testing for now.'

A level of 48 or over is diabetic.

It's 34.

Oh, man.

'Luckily, six of the eight are in the clear - at least for now.

'But Jodie Prenger's risk factors

'mean that I want her to take extra care.'

-That's partly because of your family history...

-Yes.

..and partly because you're probably carrying

a little bit of extra weight.

Oh, yeah. I've got bingo wings to show it.

-It does mean you need to take action now.

-OK.

'Jodie may be a concern for me in the future,

'but for Ricky Grover, I've got some bad news right now.'

As we suspected, the diabetes test

is not as good as we'd hoped.

The level of sugar in your blood over the last three months is pretty high,

so that suggests you probably have got diabetes.

'It's a shock for Ricky,

'particularly as type II diabetes could make his liver condition worse.'

There is an actual health problem there

and it's something that I've got to sort out

and get on immediately, you know?

You know, the joking stops now.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

'And because Crissy Rock's result shows she's on the borderline,

'I'm sending her for a further test

'to see if she actually has type II diabetes.'

I'm anxious because I wouldn't like to have diabetes.

It's not like it's the flu

and you can get a couple of tablets and it's gone,

it's with you for the rest of your life.

And it is life-changing.

I hope it isn't.

'My celebrity screening is now over,

'and of my famous faces, only one got the all clear.

'The others all have risk factors they now need to address

'and three of these particularly worry me.

'The first is Benidorm actress Crissy Rock,

'because she has high cholesterol

'and is waiting to find out if she also has type II diabetes.'

-Hi, Crissy.

-Oh!

-How are you doing?

Now, Crissy, I've got to start with some bad news, I'm afraid.

We got your test result back from diabetes

and you do have type II diabetes.

-Shut up! I haven't. I haven't.

-You have. You have.

-Oh, no, don't.

-That's really important, we need to deal with that, but also...

-So I'm now officially diabetic?

-Yes.

What concerns me even more than that is your risk of heart disease,

because the diabetes, plus the smoking, plus your high cholesterol,

your risk of heart disease, with all those things, is huge,

and that's the area I want to work with you on most of all.

You really, really can't afford to put this off any more.

I'm just absolutely gobsmacked. I mean...

You've got to start making time for your own health, OK?

I just don't know what to say.

I don't feel ill.

I don't feel like I've got anything wrong with me.

Everyone wants to look OK on the outside,

but you don't know what's going on in the inside

and it's just unbelievable.

'Next is former EastEnder Ricky Grover,

'who has both type II diabetes and a scarred liver.'

-Hi there, man, how are you doing?

-Yeah, good.

Ricky, as we both know now, you've got diabetes,

which we need to sort out, but the main reason I want to work with you

is your risk of liver disease.

We did the scan on your liver that showed significant fibrosis,

which is stiffening of the liver, and that's cos it's packed full of fat,

and to prevent the liver getting further damage,

we need to get a hold of your weight, lose some weight.

I've had better reasons for someone wanting to work with me, but...

THEY CHUCKLE

Yeah, I'm up to... obviously, want to sort it out.

The single most important thing you need to do

-is to control your eating.

-Yeah.

You've got to get the mental strength to start saying no to stuff.

'And finally, singer and actress Jodie Prenger.

'She's OK for now, but her weight issues and family history

'could cause her health problems in the future.'

-Hi there.

-Hello, are you all right?

-I'm very well, thanks. Come on in.

-Jodie, I've chosen you cos of your risk of diabetes.

-Yeah.

Both your parents had type II diabetes,

so you're at risk from your family history,

and your measurements, body shape, waist circumference and weight,

suggest you're at quite high risk of developing it in the future.

Talking to my mum, it's very scary, you know,

cos you see the tablets every day

and medicating yourself and...I don't want to have to do that.

I want to be able to look forward to my future

and not kind of dread it, and I know I've got that to dread,

so I've got to make that change, I really have.

And joining us now are our three celebrities -

Crissy Rock, Jodie Prenger and Ricky Grover.

And it's lovely to see you all looking so healthy and sparkly eyed as well,

but let's go back in time a little bit.

What was it like for you when you first got the news from Dr Phil

that you were all at risk from our three various conditions? Ricky?

Shocked.

I've always been sort of quite overweight in these later years,

but whenever I've gone to see my GP or had any kind of health checks,

they've always said, "Amazing for the size of you,"

-and I was just expecting that to happen again...

-So you just thought you could carry on...

-Yeah.

..you're a fit bloke and you could just, you know, carry on endlessly?

And then, all of a sudden, out of the blue,

I hear I may have diabetes and next thing, I've got a liver problem.

Crissy, it was a real shock for you, wasn't it?

I was gobsmacked. I didn't feel ill.

I don't even know what my own doctor looks like.

I mean, I don't go there.

My idea of exercise was bending down to zip the back of my shoe up

or putting my coat on, that was it.

I mean...you just don't think anything's going on

on the inside of your body.

Jodie, you're a fit, beautiful, lovely lady...

-Oh, I love you.

-..and a real surprise.

Do you know what? I actually thought it was inevitable

that I was going to get type II diabetes

because of my family history,

so it's been the biggest learning curve for me, this.

It scared me, but I'm so, so happy

I have finally got my head out the sand,

cos I did that, I buried it in there for so, so long.

Well, more from our three celebrities soon

and we'll find out what else Dr Phil has in store for them as well.

Now, Phil Tufnell is helping our charity volunteers

get more people into our screening. Hello, Phil, how's it going?

Yeah, it's great. The atmosphere's great down here.

It's just quietened off a little bit cos the rugby's on,

but everyone's enjoying themselves, getting involved in the day.

I've even done a bit of hula-hooping,

talked to some Smurfs down here as well. It's all going great.

THEY SING: # Go for an 'ealth check

# We're going to go for an 'ealth check. #

I've been busy catching up with some of the 40 health charity volunteers

who are helping us make this Britain's biggest-ever screening.

Their mission - to get as many people through the doors as possible.

-Just down there.

-Will it be all right?

-Yeah, by the squash courts.

-Great stuff. Thank you.

-Nice to see you.

-Have a good day.

-Yeah, we will. Up the black and whites.

-Up the black and whites.

-What's the response been to people coming in?

-Excellent.

-Yeah?

Everybody's been taking the leaflets.

We've been directing them over to the centre there to be assessed.

-Yeah?

-And, yeah, been a great day up to now.

What's all the hula-hooping about?

-The Hula Hoops...

-Get yourself fit?

-..so you can keep yourself fit,

say to people, "Get fit, keep fit,"

-trying to stave off this type II diabetes and...

-Yeah.

-Here you go, here you go.

-Give me your jacket.

I should be good at this.

One foot in front of the other.

CHEERING

Oh, have a look at that.

Here we go.

All right, ladies, calm down, calm down.

It's a bit harder than it looks. Worn out.

One of the reasons we wanted to hold our screening at a big sporting event

is that we can target middle-aged men.

Men are four times less likely to go to the doc,

but that gradual middle-age spread can soon put us in the danger zone.

I suppose some of these guys are sort of your main target audience, sort of thing, aren't they?

Yes, absolutely, and this is very important,

because often you get people here that are very hard to reach,

they won't naturally go down to their GPs' surgeries.

-Question for you, Phil.

-Yeah.

-Have you done it?

-I'm going to do it. I'm...

-You're going to do it?!

-I'm going to.

-He hasn't done it yet!

-No, I will.

-Phil!

-Why wouldn't I?

-Out the way, let me do your job.

Phil, have you thought about going for a screening?

Well, of course I have. Why wouldn't you?

So our charity volunteers are doing a great job

getting lots of Manchester's middle-aged men through the door.

You're actually off the scale, Andrew.

This only goes up to 225 pounds.

Your ethnic background can also make you

more prone to our silent killers,

a message our nurses are keen to get across.

Being Indian and being of a different ethnic group,

that increases your risk as well.

It's really the diabetes risk that we're concerned about,

because of your family history.

And as women have smaller livers than men,

it can take less booze to do damage.

So our team is also on the lookout for women like 38-year-old Angela,

who perhaps enjoy a little too much of their favourite tipple.

Of all of the things that are being screened for today,

I would say it would be the liver disease

that I would be most concerned about, cos I do drink...a lot.

SHE CHUCKLES

So, I mean, yeah,

I don't think it's, like, too much, but it's how much I drink,

so I want to know where that leaves me in terms of my health. Yeah.

-So if I was out drinking of an evening, I would have a bottle of wine...

-Yep.

..and maybe a vodka or some sort of spirit afterwards.

So one of these and one of that.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So that would be, like, 11 units

and that is two to three times a week?

Mmm, yeah.

'As Angela's drinking over twice the recommended limit,

'the medics refer her for a liver scan later today

'to check if there's any damage.'

Was that a bit shocking for you? Did you expect that? Bit surprised?

I do know how much I drink, so it's not surprising in that fact,

but I'm keen and excited to go for further tests

and to see the doctor and to see what the doctor recommends.

Dr Phil, if you do want to have a drink, maybe, of an evening,

what can you drink? What's the best thing to drink, for your liver?

There isn't a best drink, as alcohol is alcohol

and it all poisons the liver,

but what you need to do is to choose a drink you like the taste of,

so choose a wine you like the taste of in a small glass

and sip it really slowly.

Trouble is, particularly for women,

is your liver is often half the size of a man's,

so women can get cirrhosis and liver failure from half a bottle of wine a night.

There are loads of people watching this who drink half a bottle of wine a night, or the equivalent.

-It's really that dangerous.

-I've heard about a liver holiday. Is this a good idea?

It's brilliant. You should give your liver two days' rest,

consecutive days' rest is best, a week.

-So most of us, we're human, we go out, we have a bit more than we should do on a weekend.

-Mmm.

Make Monday and Tuesday your drink-free days

and then you've given your liver a rest, you're loving your liver,

as Ricky's learning to do, and it'll get better.

Liver disease is an extremely dangerous condition if it's not dealt with in its early stages,

so Dr Phil took Ricky to a couple of very unusual places

to give him a better idea of what his liver is actually up against.

Ricky, today we're going to be talking about your liver,

and you can't live without it, so today, Ricky,

-you've got to learn to love your liver.

-OK.

-You with me?

-It's a bit weird, this place, ain't it?

'I've always seen Ricky as a bit of a tough guy,

'so I thought he'd be able to stomach the Pathology Museum

'of Barts Hospital in London,

'and the first operation I want him to perform

'is to identify the size and position of my lovely liver.'

Oh.

Is that your final answer? Are you signing it?

-No...

-What are you doing?

-I've got to write "liver".

That's not bad, Ricky. I can give you half a mark for that.

-It's on the right hand side. It's a bit small, a bit low.

-OK.

So if I was drawing it myself, I'd probably go over here a bit

and round there and up to here.

-OK.

-It's the largest internal organ,

but it doesn't have any nerves,

so most people who can have quite advanced liver disease

usually don't have any pain at all from it,

which is why we call it a silent killer.

'A healthy liver and an unhealthy one may both be pain free,

'but can Ricky tell the difference?'

That looks a bit swollen, innit? That one there.

That's actually a normal size.

That's a normal healthy liver, nice and fleshy.

If you look at this one,

there's a fair chance this person actually died from liver failure.

What happens initially is you get a bit of fibrosis

and thickening around the outside as the liver tries to cope

with excess alcohol or sometimes a whole load of fat

and then, when you get cirrhosis, you actually get scarring on the inside,

so normal liver tissue is replaced by these scars,

these white streaks are scars.

'But now it's time to get hands on with the real thing.'

That's not someone's liver, is it?

No, no, that's a pig's liver.

-OK.

-But not dissimilar to ours and a similar size and shape.

Isn't it beautiful?

Look at the lovely... the colour and the sponginess,

it's like a sponge, see?

-And that's beautiful and fleshy and healthy and lovely.

-OK.

Yeah, and yeah, I mean, you could eat that, couldn't you?

-Bit of bacon.

-Yeah, you could do.

But if you had a fibrotic liver, you'd send it back,

cos it'd be all small and shrunken and scarred and really, really chewy.

'Now, this recycling plant isn't really what Ricky was expecting,

'but we're here to show him why it's not just booze

'but junk food that can easily trash your liver.'

Believe it or not, it's got a lot in common with your liver.

Here, they take all the rubbish,

all the potentially poisonous chemicals and they sort them out

into stuff they can reuse, the stuff they have to get rid of.

Your liver does the same thing -

it sorts out the good stuff and the bad stuff.

'And one thing our livers sadly don't get as much pleasure out of as we do is alcohol.

'And that's because too much too often can damage and scar it.

'Perhaps surprisingly, it's the same story with high-fat foods,

'such as Ricky's favourite treat - doner kebab and chips.'

What I want to do, Ricky, is show you what your liver has to do

when you have a really big portion of doner with all the trimmings.

Look at that.

Where's the salad and chilli sauce?!

Now, have a look. Lots of different types of bottles.

-The white ones represent fat, triglyceride.

-OK, OK.

Lots of that in your doner kebab and you have to sort them,

your liver has to sort them.

The other nutrients are the coloured bottles and the clear bottles.

-The white bottles go in the red container.

-OK.

-Everything else coloured, clear,

-the other nutrients, go in the green container.

-OK.

-You're going to do that as quickly as you can.

-OK.

-Take your marks, get set, go!

'Time for Ricky to get sorting.'

Just think, is it worth it for the taste of the kebab?

-Is it worth all this work your liver's having to do?

-Not really, no.

Your liver has three, four, five, six containers it has to deal with.

-We're only giving you two.

-Yeah.

It's having to produce bile to help break down the fats.

'But fatty foods cause the liver an extra problem,

'because it doesn't just sort fats - it stores some as well.

'So this means that Ricky is about to get laden down.'

For every two of these you throw in there,

the liver stores two of it in its body cells,

so every two that go in there, you've got to stick two in your bag.

-Why are you treating me like this?

-Cos this is what happens to your liver cells -

they get chock full of fat and then they can't work properly any more.

So can you feel yourself swelling up with the fat now?

Yeah, I can feel it, yeah.

You're not processing them quite so efficiently cos you've got to store those ones as well.

-No, you're right, you're right, yeah.

-So it's affecting your processing skills.

-Yeah.

-Can I ask you something?

-Yeah, anything you like.

-Do you treat all your patients like this?

-You're just a little bit tetchy, aren't you? I can see that.

'And in the end, the liver can end up storing so much fat

'that it can't function properly.

'It's like asking Ricky to wear boxing gloves

'for this intricate manual work.'

Just try and pick up a couple of bottles. Have a go.

Right, and then I want you to stick them in there. That's good.

This is fatty liver disease.

You take on too much fat, your liver can't process it quickly enough,

so it has to store it on board.

It's a good workout today, isn't it?

Oh, I tell you what, I've learned so much, Phil, you know?

And now I'd like to teach you something. Get your hands up, son.

I tell you, I'm in the mood now.

Bom! Bom-bom! Bom-bom! Bom-bom!

Bom-bom! Bom-bom-bom-bom-bom.

What I'm taking away with me today is that whatever I put in my mouth,

my liver's got to sort out and the other thing is,

if I don't behave myself, I've got to see more of Dr Phil

and I can't have no more of that, I've had enough.

Later on, I'll be finding out what action Ricky has been taking

to get his liver pink and healthy again.

But now it's time to check in with Phil Tufnell,

who is out getting more people into our screening.

-Get yourself down there...

-Thank you.

-..and they'll have a look. Cheers, all the best.

-OK, thank you.

-Have a great day. Take care.

-I'll do it.

-OK.

-All right?

-Get yourself down there.

-Thank you.

-Cheers, Phil.

-See you.

-See you later, have a good one.

What's the response been like today, though?

The response has been good

-but I think, still, we've got to get a big message across.

-Yeah.

More and more people, particularly young people,

-are dying of liver disease, it's crazy.

-Yeah.

-You know, that these are diseases that can be stopped.

-Yeah.

To give everyone the best chance of tackling these silent killers,

it's important that our nurses really get people

to open up and be honest.

What would you tend to drink whenever...

A, like, double vodka and Britvic.

OK, and so, how many of those would you have whenever you...

And be honest!

Well, like, in the week, I'd probably have about four

but, like, weekend...eight to ten.

-47 inches.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Is that what you thought you were?

-Did you have any idea?

-I didn't know, no.

-No?

-I didn't know.

59-year-old Wendy fought heart disease nine years ago,

but could now be at risk from another of our silent killers.

I've had one heart attack and, you know, I want to stay well.

Obviously, don't want another.

So I need to know the best way to go about that

and to avoid being diabetic, really.

You're at quite high risk of further cardiac problems,

-heart problems. You're also quite at risk of diabetes.

-Yes.

Reducing this risk of being diabetic,

-which does help with your heart disease...

-Mmm.

-..that's something you need to need to look at, really.

-I do, yeah.

As a result of her questionnaire, the nurse offers Wendy

both a cholesterol and a type II diabetes test.

I think it's quite worrying,

a high risk of another heart attack

and a high risk of diabetes is a little bit scary.

Very worrying.

Type II diabetes is rapidly becoming one of Britain's biggest health challenges,

and statistics suggest that by 2025,

over five million of us could be affected.

-Jodie, you've got a history of type II diabetes in your family, haven't you?

-Yes.

-So you saw your parents battle diabetes.

-I did.

I always saw my dad, first thing in the morning,

with the little... I call it a stabber thing,

to check his glucose levels

and I always saw my mum take tablets for it,

so it's something I've constantly had in my life,

but didn't realise all the implications that it had.

-And that it had for you...

-Yeah, it really did.

-..as the next one in the line.

-Yeah.

Interestingly, Dr Phil, you haven't tested Jodie for type II diabetes,

but that's what you're concentrating on because of this family link.

Yeah, Jodie's still young, so it's very unlikely she's got diabetes yet

and I didn't want to have the false reassurance of a normal test,

cos she is definitely at risk cos of her family history.

But again, the beauty is

what happened to your parents won't necessarily happen to you.

There's a very good chance you can not have diabetes

if you take simple lifestyle measures.

'But just what is type II diabetes?

'As a doc, I admit it's a tricky one to explain.

'But to make it easier for Jodie,

'I've come up with a weird and wonderful demonstration.'

So, Jodie, I guess you're wondering why we've brought you here.

Yeah, you've brought me to trial out for Millwall Football Club.

No. Today, I'm hoping to give you a better understanding of type II diabetes

and what it does to your body when you've got it.

'So why here, exactly?

'Well, it's because footballers need lots of energy from food

'to be at the top of their game.'

Look at that. Right in the corner.

'But it's processing this energy that's the main problem

'with type II diabetes.

'And some ingredients, like sugar,

'release particularly large amounts of energy when you eat them.

'To show Jodie just how much,

'chemist Alan West is going to release the energy from a single sweet

'by setting it on fire.'

-And to do this, we'll sacrifice some of these lovely jelly babies to the cause.

-Is this dangerous?

It's quite a vigorous reaction,

so we just need to be a little bit careful with it.

-What we've got is something in here which is actually going to provide oxygen...

-OK.

..to the jelly baby, the sugar that's in the jelly baby.

It's going to give it to it very quickly

and so we get a fast reaction.

And this would be the same kind of reaction it would be

if you digested it?

The same amount of energy would ultimately be produced, yes.

OK, wow.

-Oh, my gosh, look at the flame. It's absolutely...

-Yeah. Cor, blimey.

-Oh, my, look at the fire!

-From a single jelly baby.

No!

If that's what it looks like inside,

I am a walking firework display, that's what I am.

-And that's one.

-One jelly baby.

-So a cube of chocolate would be similar.

-Similar.

-Wow.

'But it's not just the obvious sugary things, like jelly babies,

'that release lots of energy quickly.

'Many carbohydrates, including some breads and fruits, can do the same.'

So, Jodie, whenever you eat a carbohydrate, right,

your body breaks it down into glucose to use as energy,

-so I want you to imagine that these footballs are the glucose.

-OK.

Then we need something to move the glucose around the body,

we need a blood supply,

so our footballers are going to be the blood supply.

'So when we eat carbohydrates,

'some of our food is turned into energy-rich glucose.

'But then this energy has to go where it's needed -

'into the cells of the organs and muscles.'

I want you to imagine these bins are the body's cells.

-OK.

-OK? You'll notice each of the bins has a lock on it.

-Why?

-That's because each body cell has a door that needs to be opened

to allow the glucose to get into the cell

and the key to that lock is insulin,

-which is a hormone made by the pancreas.

-OK.

-Hold my glucose.

-I'm holding your glucose.

-Here's my insulin.

It gets the door of the cell, opens it up...

Voila!

In goes the glucose.

Brilliant. What could be simpler?

'Time to scale things up a bit

'and set out the bins as cells in the body.

'I've decided they'd make a nice artery

'for our footballers to travel down.

'And don't forget they're the blood.'

First, I want you to imagine a healthy body

that doesn't have type II diabetes.

We'll now bring along the blood supply with the glucose.

You have three minutes to use those insulin keys

-to get the glucose into the cells.

-Yes!

-Are you ready?

-I am ready, Phil.

HE WHISTLES

OK, let's go. Right, here we go, no pressure.

Three minutes.

-Here comes the blood.

-Oh!

-Here it comes.

-They're coming, they're coming.

-Get ready, get ready.

Oh! Oh, look at that.

'In a healthy body, this process is smooth and trouble-free

'and Jodie is making excellent progress.'

Oh!

-Oh, you botched it up.

-Oh, that was very cool.

Where is it? Where's the lock?

-Nine.

-Where's the lock?

-Eight.

-No!

-Seven.

-Come on.

-Six.

-Go.

-Five, four.

-Yay!

-Three, two. Excellent work, excellent work.

Go on, back, you blood cells, back.

-Well done, Jodie. Did you enjoy that?

-No.

-You were very good. You did 13 cells.

-That was good!

-Quite good.

-And you should be very proud of yourself.

'So far, so good.

'But what would happen if Jodie developed type II diabetes

'like her parents?'

Now we're going to imagine a body with type II diabetes.

A lot of us have fat on the outside to varying degrees.

It's actually the fat on the inside that causes a problem.

That packs around your body cells.

One of the things it does is the fat actually gets over

-the lock on the cell.

-Oh!

So poor little insulin comes along and finds it's got that to deal with.

-Oh, lovely.

-So that actually changes the lock

and makes it much harder for insulin to do its work.

So now we're going to cover all the insulin receptors in fat.

And then you're going to do the same thing again, see if you can beat 13.

HE WHISTLES

-OK, let's get it on.

-Take it away.

-I'm never going to do this, am I?

Get through the fat. That's it, that's lovely.

I've got to look at that.

Oh, oh, oh. I think... Oh, my God!

-Is it in?

-It's...

I can't even move my fingers

because of the lard!

Glucose is piling up behind you, Jodie. Move onto the next one, quickly.

OK, next one, next one round...

'What Jodie's discovering already is that processing glucose

'when you have type II diabetes becomes a big problem

'and there's worse to come.'

-Glucose is getting angry.

-OK.

They're stockpiling behind you. Lots of glucose behind you.

-I can't!

-One minute left.

The high glucose is damaging all your cells.

-I can't get the keys in!

-No, don't take the fat off.

-Dr Phil, will you help me?

-It's got to go through the fat.

-Oh, no!

-No! Don't do that!

-Come on, Jodie!

-But the key's running away. The key's running away.

-30 seconds. 30 seconds.

-Ah!

Oh, no! I need to do it and I can't.

WHISTLE

-At the end of that, Jodie, you scored one.

-One!

-Compared to your 13.

Even when the key went in, I couldn't manoeuvre it at all.

-Something was very wrong with those locks, wasn't there?

-Definitely so.

And that was all the fat. So the problem with type II diabetes,

the first one is that your locks don't work,

so the insulin can't get into the locks, can't open the cell,

can't get the sugar in the cell where it's needed for energy,

so all the glucose stays in the bloodstream

and the high levels of glucose can damage cells

right throughout the body.

That's why diabetes is so dangerous.

Jodie, fireworks with Dr Phil. Bet you weren't expecting that.

It was a very, very bizarre day for me.

I mean, I never thought that something so small

and obviously packed with sugar, created such a massive burst,

like a mini firework show.

Whenever I felt really tired, the first thing I grabbed for

was a bar of chocolate to give me that energy.

The big hit of sugar you take with lots of chocolate,

-your poor little pancreas is working overtime, slugging out insulin to try and use that sugar.

-Yeah.

The alcohol too, not good for your liver, but it also upsets your pancreas.

Jodie, I'm going to get a T-shirt made up for you - "learn to love your pancreas".

-Oh, I like that.

-Yeah?

-Can I have it in pink?

-Yeah, of course.

-Pink pancreas.

'The thing about doing Britain's biggest-ever health screening

'is you need to get an awful lot of people through the doors.

'So I'm still out with the charity volunteers

'trying to keep them coming.'

Everyone seems very up for screening. You know, "Why not?" they're all saying,

which is great news. Why not?

As you say, it's here, it's a service that's being provided.

Get yourself checked over. Why wouldn't you?

Inside, our doctors and nurses

are dealing with some pretty unusual dietary issues...

So you have a curry every day for breakfast?

Not every day, probably every other day.

-Really?

-Yeah, curries. I like curries.

Do you want to stand on the scales for me?

And 44-year-old Emma also suspects

that her diet isn't all that it should be.

Chocolate's my downfall in a big, big way.

And drinking, I'd say, it's every couple of weeks.

I don't do it every week.

-And do you smoke at all?

-Yes.

-How many are you smoking a day?

-About 10 to 15.

-OK.

And how many drinks do you have when you go out? How many units? Do you know?

Um...a few bottles of wine, I'd say.

Probably about two or three bottles of wine.

-On one occasion?

-Yes.

-OK.

At the end of her questionnaire,

Emma get's a reality check on her health.

So we've completed the risk score.

Now, it has given you a high-risk score on the coronary heart disease,

due to, obviously, being a smoker

and also with you having a past family history of heart problems.

It's probably worse than I expected,

but it...it is going to push me into doing something

that I should have probably done a long time ago.

Emma's agreed to have a cholesterol test later today

that will reveal how urgently

she needs to do something to help her heart.

Our three silent killers become more likely as we get older,

so another group we're keen to target today is the over 50s.

People like Wayne and his wife Denise.

We both are at a critical age - 60 and nearly 60 -

and we'd just like some good medical advice

that's going to prolong our lives, hopefully.

And it's not long before Wayne starts ringing alarm bells with the nurses.

Have you ever suffered from any atrial fibrillation?

So any chest pains or fluttering in your chest?

Yeah, chest pains, yeah.

When I'm walking, bit of a stress, walking,

like, walking up a hill sort of thing, yeah.

With warning signs like this,

Wayne's booked in to see one of our doctors as soon as possible.

-Are you worried?

-No, not really.

-Yeah.

-I'm hoping that everything'll be all right

and they just say to me, you know, get a bit more exercise

and cut one or two things out of your diet

and maybe that'll be the push to sort of make a few changes, hopefully.

-Yeah, so it's been a bit of a wake-up call, really.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Although heart disease is still the single biggest killer in Britain,

again, it's largely preventable.

And to make sure that Crissy Rock avoids having heart problems in the future,

Dr Phil came up with another of his weird days out.

I expect you're wondering where I'm taking you, Crissy.

I sure am.

Well, I'm hoping by the end of today,

you'll have a much better understanding about heart disease,

what causes it and how to keep yourself safe and healthy.

'A sewage system might not seem the most obvious place to talk heart disease,

'but this one should give Crissy a good idea of what's going on inside her body.'

Believe it or not, the sewage system, all those pipes,

are very similar to your circulatory system.

Your heart pumps around the body through the pipes,

the sewage goes through the pipes and, like both of them,

you need to keep them in good nick, otherwise, problems can happen.

'And the problem with this sewage system is,

'it's starting to get clogged up.'

-Do you know the thing that blocks it up more than anything else?

-What?

Fat. So people who cook their roast and they pour the fat down the sink

and it goes down into the sewers and it solidifies.

-I'm guilty of being one of them people who do that.

-You do that?

'The drains team first needs to locate where the blockage is

'and for this, they use a really rather impressive high-tech robo camera.'

-He's lowering the camera down now.

-Yeah.

-If you have a look up there,

you see these lovely pictures.

Oh, that looks so horrible.

It's not pleasant, is it?

There should be a big black hole there and you can see the fat coming in and blocking it off.

-So all that white bits, is all fat?

-Yeah, that's all fat.

There goes the nozzle.

'Luckily, the drains team has a high-pressure hose

'to sluice out all those fatty deposits.'

Urgh!

It's like Star Wars, but the pressure it must have to have.

Yeah, yeah.

That is amazing, that.

'And it's what the high-pressure hose flushes out

'that I want to show Crissy.'

-Look at that.

-Urgh!

So imagine something similar on the inside of your arteries,

-only this time it's cholesterol on the inside...

-Yeah.

-..and it'd stick to your artery walls

just as that fat clings to the pipes down there.

-So it's solidifies?

-Mmm.

Yeah, and narrows your arteries. The blood can't get through.

It stinks as well, doesn't it?

-Well, hopefully your arteries don't smell like that.

-I hope not.

That would be very worrying.

'And now for the stuff that can cause our own arteries

'to become clogged like sewers.'

It doesn't look too bad, but I tell you, that stuff's evil.

So is that cholesterol?

'But where does this dangerous cholesterol come from?

'Well, in fact we produce it in our own livers,

'particularly when we eat certain types of food.'

There are actually two types of cholesterol.

There's bad cholesterol and good cholesterol.

What's the difference?

The bad cholesterol is produced when you eat lots of saturated fat,

so that's the stuff that generally comes from animals

and it's solid at room temperature,

so that makes the bad cholesterol that clogs up your arteries.

However, the good news is, this table is full of vegetable fats

-and fish fats and these are...

-Good for you.

They're much better for you, yeah.

They give you higher levels of good cholesterol,

good cholesterol that stops your arteries from getting clogged up.

'So now I want to show Crissy

'exactly what good and bad cholesterol do inside our bodies.

'For that, I need a coronary artery and a swimming lane is just the job.

'Swimmers in pink are bad cholesterol.

'And those in green - good cholesterol.

'Meanwhile, Crissy and I are the oxygen

'in our very impressive Long Live Britain dinghy.'

OK, Crissy, now we're going to take a journey up the coronary artery

of somebody who eats very high levels of saturated fat.

It's going to be tough getting up here, but we're going to try,

-cos that heart has to get oxygen, otherwise, it'll have a heart attack.

-Oh, dear.

Very gentle. Careful. Don't damage the wall of the artery.

-I won't.

-Gentle.

'When your liver produces bad cholesterol,

'it's taken round your body in the bloodstream.

'But the problem with this cholesterol

'is it can stick to your artery walls

'just like fat in sewers.

'So, over time, your arteries, like your drains,

'can get clogged up or even blocked.'

-That's looking very difficult, look. It's completely blocked the whole artery.

-Oh!

We're going to have trouble getting through there.

'But that's where the good cholesterol comes in.

'In a way, it's a bit like the drain team's high-pressure hose.

'It helps prevent blockages

'because it carries the bad cholesterol

'away from the artery walls and back to the liver,

'where it can be flushed away.

'Exercise and the right foods

'will help you produce lots of good cholesterol

'and less of the bad,

'so your heart will get the vital oxygen it needs.'

See, it's made a gap for us to get through.

-Bang on the heart. Beautiful.

-Yeah.

Before today, I was very ignorant of what was going on inside my own body

and I didn't... I had a grab-and-go lifestyle,

cos everything's quick now, isn't it?

Instant coffee, drive-in McDonald's. Everything's quick and easy.

But I think slowing down and starting to think

about what you're doing, it's really brought it home to me.

We're four hours into this, Britain's biggest-ever screening,

and we've now seen over 200 people.

Our stats team has been hard at work.

We've already found out

that 79% of people we've seen so far

are at increased risk of type II diabetes

and now it's time for an update

on the second of our silent killers.

Tell me something about liver disease now.

Liver disease, yeah. So 44% of the people who we've screened

are at an increased risk of alcohol-related liver disease,

which might not be so surprising

when I tell you that 39% of the people who we've screened

actually drink more than their weekly allowance of alcohol.

It's easy to do, isn't it?

So that means that, so far, nearly half of the people

that we've screened have a chance of developing alcohol-related liver disease.

After the news, we'll be finding out what our screening stats are

on Britain's biggest killer - heart disease.

So all that white rim is all plaque inside the coronary artery.

And revealing more top tips to keep our silent killers at bay.

What I want you to remember is a rainbow, OK?

Crissy's going to eat a rainbow.

Some of the people from our screening will also be facing up

to what's really happening inside their bodies.

I can just feel a little discomfort in my chest now.

And we'll catch up with our three celebs

to see how they've been getting their health back on track

to gain more years of life.

Your meal needs to fit into those cupped hands.

So what we're doing today, really, is about saving lives.

More of us could avoid these terrible conditions

if we take action now.

There are some things we can't change,

like our age or our family history, but the biggest risk factors

are actually those that we can do something about.

-Let's finish this job.

-Yeah.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd