15 minutes with. . .

Christian Jessen

Authors: Shaine Mehta 

Publication date:  04 Nov 2009

How did you make the leap into media?

It was a rather fortuitous accident. I always liked talking about health to the public, and demystifying health. Whenever I got the chance to get on the news and talk about sexual health, or go on morning TV and talk about chlamydia or teenage pregnancy, I really enjoyed it. I think people saw me doing it enthusiastically and decided that they might try me out doing other things on the shows.

Your work with Channel Four has made you a household name. What have been the highlights so far?

I have a television show called Embarrassing Bodies, which has been a huge success—it has won a BAFTA. In fact, it is the highest rating show on Channel Four, which is amazing for a medical show.

You very recently embarked on a country wide theatre tour. What is the idea behind this?

That was a reaction to the success of the shows. There is going to be lots of sex education and teaching people how to examine their bits. It is a medical roadshow and it has never ever been done before.

Why is sexual health an area of particular interest to you?

That is a good question. It is great from a media perspective as there are always people who want to talk about it. And I think there is a huge amount of stigma, rumour, myth, misunderstanding, and fear around sexual health.

Is that what drives you when accepting media work? Something to break barriers?

Absolutely. That is probably the single main reason why I do it.

So it is not because you are attracted to the glamour of the lifestyle?

It is very hard work; I think it is a bit of a myth that working in television is glamorous. You have to get the message right. It is a huge responsibility, particularly as a doctor, rather than just a TV presenter. It is not just turn up, wear a nice shirt, and say a few things. It is a lot more than that, not that anyone is going to believe me.

The programmes are viewed by millions of people, more patients than most doctors see in their lifetime. That is quite profound. I do feel a huge sense of responsibility, and particularly as a lot of my fans are young people. They are a very impressionable audience, but they are also exactly the audience that we want because you can do an awful lot of good if you can change their opinion, particularly in my field, which is sexual health and HIV. It needs to be cool, interesting, and trendy to keep them watching, and you need to be teaching them without them realising it as well, so it is not as easy as it looks.

What qualities do you need to work in the limelight?

You need a thick skin and you need a gung ho attitude, because you are asked to do all sorts of crazy things and sometimes you think, “I’m not bloody doing that, no way.” On Embarrassing Bodies, I decided that I wanted to have tests done on me because it is all very well us doctors sending patients off for things, but they tend to terrify patients. I started swallowing things like little pill cams, and having magnetic resonance imaging and HIV tests—the sort of things that a lot of patients have to do at some stage.

What advice would you give to doctors who want to work in the media?

Be bold. Go for it. Go to whoever is in charge and say, “I want to do this, try me out.” Newspapers and magazines are churned out daily, so they always need material.

Any final words?

Do not get terrified by the rigorous career structure of medicine. Do not feel you have to follow a particular set path and jump through all the hoops all your life. Stick your neck out. If you find yourself stuck in a job that you hate, do something about it, because it is very easy to be very miserable in medicine. Do not get drawn in because of career aspirations or pressure or because you feel this is what you should be doing. It is not. Do what you want to do.

Shaine Mehta medical student and co-president of Sexpression UCL University College London

 shaine.mehta@ucl.ac.uk