Mentorn Barraclough Carey in London, U.K. is planning to take you from the cradle to the grave next year. Unnatural Practices looks at the way childbirth has changed, and the ways in which societial views of natal technology have also shifted.

From test-tube babies to genetic engineering, we seem to be one step behind in our acceptance of technology, allowing science into the mix only when the newest, more abstract discovery has been made.

The 3 x 1 hours are being produced for Channel 4 and should be completed by October ’98, at a budget of approximately £300,000 per hour.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cancer Wars looks at the history of our fight against the most deadly of incurable diseases. Produced by mbc with Channel 4 and weta/pbs in Washington, D.C., this 4 x 60 minutes is a political look at the fight against cancer, with a little science thrown in for good measure.

The series uncovers all kinds of interesting facts, like the findings of Nazi researchers who were looking for ways to build their supermen and instead discovered a link between cancer and smoking. As Nazi medical practices were, for the most part, racist, and thus deplored, the research was buried and forgotten.

Cancer Wars is distributed through Paris, France-based Télé Image, and will air on the copro stations, as well as La Cinquième in France, early in 1998. The major funders for the series were PBS and Channel 4, helping to raise funds for a budget just under US$2 million.

In Pulp Non-Fiction:
-Production briefs straight from the source
-Spotlight on Mentorn Barraclough Carrey
-Spotlight on TVF
-Ratcam