THE DIAGNOSIS DETECTIVES

Sometimes, doctors have to unleash their inner sleuths in order to solve tricky cases

- MICHAEL MOSLEY

One of the most famous fictional detectives of all time is Sherlock Holmes. Holmes uses his extraordinary skills of observation to crack seemingly impossible cases. What you might not know is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh before becoming a writer, and based his character – at least partially – on a former university teacher called Joseph Bell. Bell was, apparently, particularly brilliant at spotting things other doctors had missed.

The ability to use observation and deductive reasoning to help make an accurate diagnosis is at the heart of medicine. It is also at the heart of my new BBC series, called