Corpse exhibition provokes anger

An exhibition of partially dissected human bodies due to go on show in Blackpool has sparked anger.

The world premiere of Bodies Revealed: The Exhibition, opening next week, will feature corpses of people who donated their bodies to medical science.

Those behind the exhibition - being held at the Winter Gardens for four months - say it aims to be educational.

But a councillor has branded it "sick" and a reverend said the display would be more about "sensationalism".

Just because someone gives their permission it doesn't make it right Reverend Michael Manley

Councillor Mary Smith told BBC Radio Lancashire: "I'm disgusted, I think it's macabre and sick, and what is Blackpool coming to?

"Would you take your family to see human body parts, because I certainly wouldn't?

"They're saying that these bodies were donated - did they know they were going to be put on show after they'd finished with them?"

Reverend Michael Manley, vicar of Blackpool's St John's Church, said the exhibition showed "taste" was low down on modern society's agenda.

"It damages people's dignity," he said. "To me it will be just a case of sensationalism really, which we could well do without, especially in such a family area.

'Promotes understanding'

"Just because someone gives their permission it doesn't make it right."

But Dr Roy Glover, a professor emeritus of anatomy and cell biology and the medical director of the display, said previous similar exhibitions had been educational.

"I've discovered in my more than 30 years of teaching anatomy to medical students [that] seeing promotes understanding and understanding promotes the most practical kind of body education possible," he said.

The bodies on show have been preserved using a process called "polymer preservation", and there will also be hundreds of organs on show.