How Dr Michael Mosley revolutionised dieting from 5:2 to the Fast 800

Doctor Michael Mosley has been celebrated for revolutionising the way Brits diet - and often pushing his own body to extremes as part of his research.

The TV star, author and columnist has been remembered by his friends and colleagues as a powerhouse of scientific broadcasting after he was found dead on the Greek island of Symi days after going missing in extreme heat.

After initially starting out as an investment banker, Mosley retrained as a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London before then decided to move into broadcasting. He joined the BBC as a trainee assistant producer and eventually moved from behind the cameras to presenting.

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In one of his most shocking documentaries, Dr Mosley ingested tapeworms for six weeks. The BBC Four production, called Infested! Living With Parasites, aired in 2014 and saw the doctor turn his body into a "living laboratory" to see the effects the creatures would have on his health.

Mosley would often carry out unusual experiments on himself for his TV shows, including one in which he ate black pudding made with his own blood and another that saw him inject himself with snake venom to see how his blood clotted.

During 2011, he fronted the controversial documentary Inside The Human Body, which aired the dying moments of a man who had a "peaceful, natural death". At the time, Mosley told the Radio Times it was important not to "shy away from talking about death and, when it’s warranted, showing it".

But Mosley's work on weight loss has perhaps been the most influential. His enthusiasm for the subject came from his own experiences after discovering that he had type 2