BBC co-stars remember Michael Mosley after ‘absolute shock’ death

TV doctor Michael Mosley has been remembered by his BBC co-stars as “one of the most important broadcasters of the last few decades”.

The broadcaster and columnist died of natural causes last week after he went missing on the Greek island of Symi.

His body was found on Sunday in a rocky area near Agia Marina beach.

On Monday, The One Show presenter Alex Jones opened the broadcast with a tribute to their “dear friend and colleague”.

“Dr Michael Mosley was part of the original line-up of One Show reporters who made his first appearance in 2007 and has been a familiar presence on the show ever since,” she said.

“It’s still very hard to grasp what’s happened, I think everybody feels that…It’s an absolute shock.”

During the BBC programme, Dr Sarah Jarvis, who had worked with Mosley over the years including on The One Show, explained how Mosley had transformed people’s lives.

“Michael was absolutely charming.

“He was funny, he was clever, but what really came across was that he had this ability to communicate and he wanted to get important messages out.

“That man touched so many lives,” she said.

“He took really complicated science, then he turned it into something that resonated with everybody.

“And he said that by using himself as a guinea pig, he could make more difference than many doctors make in a lifetime.

“…The ideas that he first brought out, he helped bring into the mainstream of health are now there and they continue to make a difference to the quality of people’s lives.”

During his career, Mosley advocated intermittent fasting through the 5:2 diet and The Fast 800 diet and presented science and medical documentaries on the BBC and Channel 4.

Dr Chris van Tulleken and Dr Hannah Fry also appeared on the show to remember their Trust Me, I’m A Doctor and Horizon co-star.

“I think he had such a gentle, humble style, that it would be easy to forget that Michael is one of the most important broadcasters of the last few decades, perhaps ever,” van Tulleken said.

“He didn’t just self-experiment and treat himself as a patient and as a guinea pig, he virtually invented that genre of doing things.

“The era before Michael, it was doctors and scientists in ivory towers, telling you how to live your life…and Michael went with curiosity and approached experts in this incredibly humble way and submitted himself for experimentation.

“That has had the most incredible influence over the way that I do television and that Hannah does and almost everyone else you see on TV now and it came from him – he is such an important broadcaster.”

Meanwhile Fry recalled a time when Mosley had saved the life of a BBC colleague.

“There was this rumour going around that once Michael had saved somebody’s life in the office, and I went and approached him about it (asking) ‘tell me, is this true?’

“He sort of brushed it off, but it was completely true.

“Somebody collapsed in the BBC offices in the corridors, and he saw them collapse.

“He went over, he performed CPR on them for almost half an hour until the emergency services arrived.

“(He) saved her life, she’s gone on to have two children.”

Meanwhile, The One Show co-host Jones described Mosley as a “super generous man”.

“Even when he’d come on here in my early days, I was a bit shy then, and you always felt in such safe hands and so generous with tips and tricks as well,” she said.

“He will be sorely missed but Michael’s legacy will live on.”

The BBC will be airing a “special tribute” to Mosley on Friday at 8pm on BBC One.