Luton’s Stacey Dooley is taking on some of the internet’s strangest health claims in a brand new BBC series – and the first trailer has now been released.
Clickbait Clinic with Stacey Dooley will see the award-winning documentary maker joined by doctors and health experts Dr Alex George and Dr Nighat Arif as they investigate the medical and wellness trends flooding social media.
The six-part series will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year, with Stacey testing claims ranging from the extreme to the downright bizarre.
Among the subjects explored will be extreme leg-lengthening surgery, NAD+ drips, the carnivore diet, testosterone and methylene blue.
The team will even investigate claims that dog deworming tablets can cure cancer.
The series comes as social media increasingly becomes a source of health information, with one in three people in Britain now turning to platforms such as TikTok and Instagram for advice.
Stacey will investigate how some of the trends go viral, meet the influencers behind them and then work alongside medical experts to establish whether there is any evidence behind the claims.
Stacey said: “Social feeds are full of health and wellness tips, but it’s impossible to know which ones to believe. I can’t wait to find out what the experts think and to meet the people behind the biggest online health trends.”
The new trailer was released this week, giving viewers their first proper look at the Luton-born presenter in action on the series.
The programme is the latest project in a busy period for Stacey, who has recently fronted a string of BBC documentaries tackling subjects including shoplifting, rape trials and the experiences of Britain’s Gypsy communities.
She has also released her new book, Dear Minnie: Conversations with Remarkable Mothers, inspired by her experiences of becoming a mother herself.
For Clickbait Clinic, Stacey is joined by Dr Alex George, the former A&E doctor and mental health advocate who has become a familiar face on television and social media.
He said: “I’ve spent plenty of time searching online for answers about my own health, but I’ve also spent years working as a doctor. Looking at some of the claims going viral from both perspectives has been fascinating, and I’m really excited to explore them with Stacey and Nighat.”
Dr Nighat Arif, a GP, author and health content creator, said she had seen the consequences of bad health advice first-hand.
She said: “This is a dream project for me and even better it’s with Stacey and Alex. I’ve often seen the very real impact of harmful online health advice in my clinic, so helping to untangle this for viewers could not be more important. The one thing I want them to be able to say, ‘is this something that is evidence-based or is this something that could potentially not work or even do me harm?”
The series is being made by award-winning production company Nutopia.
The production company says the programme will aim to separate the “miracle cures from the snake oil”, with Stacey and the experts following the digital trail behind viral health claims before putting the science to the test.
For the Luton-born presenter, it represents another major BBC project in a career which has taken her from her hometown to some of the world’s biggest documentary stories.
Clickbait Clinic with Stacey Dooley will air on BBC One and iPlayer later this year. The BBC yet to announce a specific broadcast date.
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