Episodes

10 episodes in this season

The Bike

Misha

Dark Side of the Sun

Walking Back to Happiness

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Knights of the Shining Piddock

Tokyo Earthquake

Art and Chips

A Chinese Cure for Eczema?

The Family Game

E10

Gallop to Freedom

Q.E.D

TV Series

19826.0

Documentary

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Knights of the Shining Piddock

Season 14 · Episode 5 · Apr 7, 1993

The Pholas dactylus, or common piddock, is a shellfish with a simple lifestyle - it glows in the dark, breeds and dies. Its enemies are pollution and the Mediterranean gourmets who eat it as an hors d'oeuvre. Although on the verge of extinction, it also looks set to revolutionise the treatment of diabetes, arthritis and heart disease and make a fortune for two scientists. Fifteen years ago Jan and Robert Knight discovered a mutual enthusiasm for the marine mollusc. Working from their dining room, they extracted its luminescent juice and discovered that it has a wide range of applications in medical diagnosis. Now the chemical they called Pholasin has aroused enormous interest among research organisations as well as a Kent oyster farmer who has started a piddock farm for them. Griff Rhys Jones narrates the remarkable story of the piddock, the couple who have devoted their lives to it, and the prototype of the medical kit that could make them millionaires.

More details

Q.E.D

TV Series

19826.0

Documentary

Now playing

Knights of the Shining Piddock

Season 14 · Episode 5 · Apr 7, 1993

More details