[2][3] Van Tulleken became well known for his two-part television special for BBC One entitled The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs (2018).
[citation needed] They are descended from Dutch Rear-Admiral Jan van Hoogenhouck Tulleken (1762–1851), originally Jan Tulleken, of a family traced back to the 15th century, who changed his name in 1822 and was raised to the nobility in 1842 with the rank of Jonkheer, the lowest tier of nobility.
[citation needed] In June 2023, van Tulleken and his brother Xand were the subjects of the BBC genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are?, in which they learned that they were descended from a wealthy slave-trader who had a plantation in Demerara in The Guianas.
[10] Van Tulleken and his twin presented Channel 4's Medicine Men Go Wild,[11] CBBC's Operation Ouch!
[19] Van Tulleken was named as an emerging British talent in "The Brit List 2013" by ShortList magazine.
[22] In 2016, alarmed by the steep rise in prescription medicine in Britain and dubious as to its efficacy, van Tulleken was featured in the BBC One television show The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs.