Stacey Dooley goes behind the scenes at an undertakers in new OU/BBC documentary

Posted on 8 November 2023 • Around the OU, TV and radio

Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers, takes a fascinating and surprisingly uplifting look behind the doors of a funeral director to discover more about the usually hidden side of death.

In this one-off OU/BBC co-production, which airs on 9 November at 9pm on BBC ONE and iPlayer, presenter Stacey Dooley immerses herself in the day-to-day work involved with running a funeral business.

Taking a hands-on approach, she spends time with florists, embalmers and coffin and headstone makers, to find out exactly what happens to a deceased person when they arrive at the undertakers.

As well as learning about the practicalities of death, Stacey gets an insight into attitudes around dying in the UK and the role faith plays in an increasingly secular society. She meets someone facing their own imminent death and talks to recently bereaved families who share their own very personal stories.

Professor of Medical Anthropology, Erica Borgstrom – who is internationally renowned for her research on palliative and end-of-life research – was the academic consultant on the programme.

She said:

“It is not unusual for people to have questions about what happens to someone’s body after death. Going behind the scenes at an undertakers with Stacey Dooley hopefully helps answer some of those questions for people and shows that it is not scary, and could actually be helpful, to talk about death and dying.”

This programme was commissioned by Broadcast and Partnerships and is supported by the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, with particular relevance to BA (Hons) Health and Social Care (R26) BA(Hons) Public Health and Wellbeing (R64) and BA/BSc (Hons) Open Degree (QD)

Commissioned by Dr Caroline Ogilvie, Head of Broadcast & Partnerships

Academic Consultants and Media Fellow: Prof. Erica Borgstrom

Broadcast Project Manager: Matthew Ray

Supporting Online Content: Chris Belson

Supporting Online content:

Visit our Broadcast website OU Connect  where you can find extensive resources on topics related to the programme, including an animation exploring the meaningful and perhaps unexpected places we choose to lay our dead to rest.

Main picture: BBC/Firecracker films