2020 Nominees

War in the Blood: A Cure for Cancer?

BBC Two, Minnow Films

UK

Documentary & Factual - Science and Technology

War in the Blood follows two terminally ill cancer patients, 53 year old Graham and 18 year old Mahmoud, through ground breaking ‘first in-human’ trials for CAR T-cell therapy, a treatment described as the beginning of the end of cancer. Not allowed to meet and separated by two floors of a hospital the two men are nevertheless bound together by their commitment to the trial and their faith in the science. How do their ages and life experiences affect their physical and emotional response? For scientist Martin Pule and consultant Claire Roddie, the responsibility of curing patients is both exciting and daunting. They know they stand on the cusp of a breakthrough that could change everything we know about cancer. The patients and clinical team must weigh up hope with realism and their response is a profound and revealing reflection of the human condition. Beautifully shot, intimate and visceral this complex film shows us the human face of science.