The gruesome history of anatomy from today's 'event anatomist' Gunther Von Hagens to the dissection of hanged murderers in the 18th century and the gladiators in Rome.

Thirty flayed human corpses put on public show in London. They are the macabre creations of a modern Frankenstein, German anatomist Gunther von Hagens. His Body Worlds exhibition has provoked outrage abroad but the crowds keep coming - over eight million people so far. But he is not the first to have dragged anatomy out of the shadows.
The Anatomists tells the history of this morbid science, from gladiatorial rings of ancient Rome to the public dissections of the Renaissance and on to the endemic grave robbing of 19th century Britain. The foundations of modern medicine have been laid at a very bloody price.