Calling Dr Spock, can you hear me?

By Frances Grant

Renowned neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks is not above envying the skills of one of the most famous doctors of television science fiction.

In tonight's first instalment of his intriguing seven-part documentary series The Mind Traveller (TV One, 10.30 pm), Sacks wishes he could work Dr Spock's Vulcan trick of fusing minds.

"If only we could get a report from inside," he says about one of the sufferers of a mysterious neurological disease peculiar to the Pacific island of Guam. "This is the only time I've wanted telepathy."

In the series, Sacks travels around the world investigating different neurological conditions through the stories of the people who suffer from them, always mindful of what they can tell us about the workings of the brain and nervous system.

Tonight's first episode, Poison in Paradise, is a kind of medical detective story in which Sacks seeks the cause of the mysterious Guam disease.

Victims, known as "litico bodig," exhibit a bewildering range of symptoms, from mild paralysis to being in a trance.

Sacks' whimsical wish for Dr Spock's powers is hardly what you would expect from a clinical observer.

But the strength of the series is the broadness - references to literature, art and other sciences abound, as well as his interest in cultural traditions - and humility of his approach.

Viewers familiar with the film of his book Awakenings (in which Sacks was portrayed by Robin Williams) or his best-seller The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, will know that Sacks' fascination for neurology is as compassionate as it is scientific.

Though he doesn't have Dr Spock's powers, he could perhaps be called a Dr Who.

"I am as interested in the person affected by the disorder as I am by the disorder itself," he says.

"I'm drawn to the 'who' as much as to the 'what.'"

As well as his gift for relating to his subjects, Sacks is a natural storyteller. The mystery of the Guam disease brings together his two great passions - neurology and botany.

The prime suspect is the nut from a species of cycad - a plant from the age of the dinosaurs.

The islanders treat the nut to get rid of its toxin, then dry it and grind it up for flour.

Poison in Paradise is much more than a study of a medical condition, it is also a mini-history of the European colonisation of Guam and a portrait of its culture.

In following episodes in the series Sacks looks at disorders which include Tourette's syndrome (characterised by involuntary behaviour) colour-blindness, autism, Usher's syndrome (which causes deafness and blindness), and deafness.