Fight for Life

In this multi-award-winning six-part series for BBC One, the dramatic story of how the human body triumphs in crisis needed to be told from the inside, as well as the outside. Real-life stories from patients in A&E and operating theatres fused with CGI revealing - for the very first time - the fight from inside the human body.

With 250 shots across six episodes, the CGI recreations include how a heart attack would look from the inside, a baby struggling for life in the womb and X-ray “trauma vision” style shots to show the internal workings of the body.

A variety of techniques and approaches were tried and tested in order to come up with spectacular results. Simulation software was used to create liquid effects, multiple render passes were used to bring the internal organs to life and high-speed shot elements, such as splats and condensation on the lens were finally added to help the immersive experience. Complete models were created of the whole human body with all the internal organs, circulation, muscles, skeleton, nerves, and skin. These were then adapted and rigged across all body ages, sexes and types to cover all the different stories in the series.