Squeamish people, prepare yourselves, on Wednesday Channel 4 will be airing a 90-second advert featuring live footage from inside the human body.

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In the global broadcasting first, the ‘Live from the Inside’ colonoscopy will be shown pre-watershed at 3.25pm, where two bowel polyps (small growths on the inner lining of the colon) will be removed from a patient called Philip McSparron. The procedure will be filmed at Cardiff and Vale University hospital where a doctor will be explaining what viewers are looking at throughout the ad.

So why are C4 showing this halfway through the upcoming episode of A New Life in the Sun? It’s all part of Cancer Research UK’s ‘Right Now’ campaign, aiming to show the “reality of day-to-day life for those affected by cancer, bringing together the real stories of patients and their loved ones, researchers and medical staff”.

McSparron, who got regular screenings for cancer after his brother’s bowel cancer was spotted in early 2010, said he hoped the live broadcast would show people the procedure is “not something to be frightened of”.

“Hopefully people will be interested in seeing the live footage and it will encourage them to be more willing to talk about cancer and think about taking up regular screening,” he said.

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And just in case you’re at work on Wednesday, a 60-second version of the advert will be repeated at 9.30pm, during C4 drama No Offence.

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Cancer Research UK will simultaneously stream the ad on Facebook, with a nurse answering questions about cancer by social media users. Channel 4 will also simultaneously broadcast the event across its social media accounts.

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