Episode 8 Turbo Boost

The country's jam-packed full of kids with mind-blowing talents.

Take one.

And they're about to be pushed to their limits by me

and my top team of experts and stars.

I'm Turbo - street dance king.

And this is...Turbo Boost.

-Awesome!

-Yay!

Where talented kids are set a tough final challenge

and just four weeks to train for it.

I'm really excited!

It's bigger than anything they've ever done

and there's no guarantee of success.

Buckle up - it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Today I'm going to Turbo Boost a boy from Norfolk.

This time I've really pulled it out of the bag.

I've called on some of the UK's brightest talents to help me boost

the dream of a would-be master magician.

Louder, come on!

We've got four weeks to take him from performing to just his friends

and family to wowing the crowd at the UK's biggest festival for kids.

It's a big challenge and it's not going to be easy.

Harry's having difficulty with part of the trick.

If he does that on the day, it will be a total disaster.

But will he able to pull off a show-stopping performance

and announce himself as magic's next big thing?

I'm at a special location just outside of London

where I'm about to conjure up a surprise for someone who is

passionate about all things magic.

Our young magician is at a studio tour about boy wizards.

He thinks he's left his magic tricks behind for the day,

so let's hope he doesn't think it's an illusion when I surprise him.

He has no idea that I am waiting to give him his Turbo Boost.

Sorry to interrupt, I am looking for Harry.

-Here.

-Are you Harry?

-Yeah.

Harry, I'm Turbo and I'm here to give you

and your magic a Turbo Boost.

Awesome!

-How do you feel?

-Really good.

Over the next four weeks you are going to be super boosted

in your magic skills by a celebrity expert mentor.

At the end of those four weeks,

you are going to perform a new professional routine

in front of a massive crowd at a huge London festival.

Awesome.

-Are you ready to be Turbo Boosted?

-Definitely.

-Give me some.

My name's Harry and I've just been Turbo Boosted!

Hello, I'm Harry Hilarious.

This is my dad. He's a head teacher, so he's quite annoying.

This is my mum who's always bugging me about having my room tidy.

And this is my brother Thomas,

-who thinks he is better than me at magic when he isn't.

-Always.

I love magic because I love to baffle and confuse people.

Lewis, turn it over.

Whoa!

The look on their faces, it's really good.

I am impressed with what he can do, cos I get baffled now.

He does tricks and I'm struggling to work out

how he manages it and he's only ten.

Thomas demands attention. It's in his character.

All I need is this bag.

Harry's always fighting for attention.

With his magic, he gets the attention,

so that's where the magic fits it.

Not on me!

I've only performed in front of people like my family

or people who live locally.

Right then, Mark, I wondered if I could show you a trick today.

I would really like to perform on a big stage

in front of hundreds of people.

Barney, do you want to see a trick? I'll take that as a yes.

I think I need a boost, because my magic is good already

but it could get better and I want to master the big illusions.

The trick I would like to do most is saw the lady in half

because it's achieving the impossible and that's why I like it so much.

That's magic, but we don't need this, so...

Harry's dream is to perform spectacular magic illusions

in front of a huge audience.

He'll have to work hard if he wants to pull off a jaw-dropping show

at Britain's biggest kid's festival in just four weeks.

And he's going to need some expert help.

Harry, my pal, would you like to meet your mentor?

Definitely.

I am going to tell you now I know a little magic myself.

When I click my fingers, he will appear before you.

OK, there is a malfunction somewhere. I'll get it sorted.

-Turbo, can I come out now?

-Yes.

-Hi, Harry.

-Hello.

-I'm Fergus. How you doing?

-Really good.

Fergus Flanagan is one of the UK's top magicians.

As you can see, it's totally destroyed,

so I can't read the message.

And a star of CBBC's Help! My Supply Teacher's Magic.

When we open up the time machine,

there should be a fully formed piece of paper.

He's the perfect mentor to give Harry plenty of expert training

and to supersize his magic skills.

Well, let's get cracking.

Have you got anything on you today that you can show me?

Harry demonstrates a sleight of hand illusion

so Fergus can judge the level of this skills.

What we're going to do with these two...

One is going to go in my hand.

This one, we're going to close your hand tight over it.

I click my fingers, give it a little wave...

My one disappears, check your hand.

I've got two. Wow, that's lovely.

Really good work and that is a classic of magic, of course.

You are really likeable performing.

You've got a real confidence.

I can see a few things we can work on

and once we've nailed those basics

you will be ready to perform a big, big stunt.

-How does that sound?

-Really good.

A magician must make the audience believe that

what they see really is magic.

Fergus wants to show Harry that even a simple card trick

depends on capturing the audience.

We have 52 cards and I would like you to take one out.

Take any one you like.

And I would like you to look at it and show it to the camera,

I won't look.

Here's what we're going to do...

Place your card face down into the deck.

I want you to imagine your card turning face up in the deck.

Look what happens if I just rub the cards, just like this

and snap my fingers, one card reverses.

It's your card, four of clubs.

Wow! How did Fergus do that?

Well, pay attention, folks, here's how it's done.

Firstly, Fergus takes the card at the bottom of the pack

and turns it over.

Then he spreads the deck so Harry can pick one.

The next part of the trick is really important.

At this point, Fergus distracts Harry

by asking him to show the card to the camera.

As Harry is distracted, Fergus turns the pack upside down in his hands.

When I take the card back from you and place it into the deck,

can you see what's happening?

Your card is actually going back in face down into a face-up deck.

Now for the crucial part of the trick.

Fergus needs to distract Harry again

so he can turn the deck over one final time.

So when he goes through the pack,

it looks like Harry's card has flipped over.

Harry's learned the trick, but will work on total strangers?

We're going straight to a nearby market to find out.

This is the first time he's ever performed in public.

Here, I've got a deck of cards.

Can you just pick any card?

He's away.

Don't show me, show the camera.

I need you to think of your card flipping over in the deck.

When I click my fingers, when I go through the deck,

your card is the only card turned over.

The more he can engage and make contact,

just helps bring people's attention away from what's actually going on.

Show it to the camera.

There he's made good eye contact.

One card in the deck is turned over.

Your card, the ace of clubs.

Harry is doing well.

He's showing control of the trick

and distracting his audience at just the right moments.

Here I've have a deck of cards, do you just want to choose one card?

Look at it, but don't show me.

I reckon this lady's going to be a bit tricky.

I'm going to take it and put it face down in the deck.

Sometimes the audience try to figure out the trick

and it's up to the magician to distract them

-from looking at the cards.

-Now look at me.

What we're going to do is, I want you...

Harry has just broken one of the biggest rules in magic -

he's had to tell the stall holder to look at his face

rather than his hands and he just about pulls off the trick.

Your card, the ace of spades.

-I think she's impressed.

-He's won her over, good man.

That last attempt is still bothering Harry.

What happened was, instead of looking at my face,

they were looking at the cards.

I had to say, "Look at my face."

You want to try and get their attention towards your face

but just through talking and making hand gestures.

You've really got Harry's Turbo Boost off to a wand-erful start.

Me, on the other hand - I still got to work on my own magic.

When I was in the market place..

I felt quite nervous as some points because when I was doing the trick

they weren't always looking at my face when I needed them to.

That was a bit hard, but some of them were really shocked.

I think I'd say it went pretty well.

Harry's skills of distraction need a boost if he's to wow a massive crowd

at his final magic challenge in just a few weeks.

Many magicians use comedy as part of their act,

because a laughing audience pays less attention to

the secrets of the illusion.

For extra protection, we do have this shield.

Well, that's at least kind of you.

No, that's to protect me from the spray.

This suit cost an absolute fortune.

I'm taking Harry to the best in the business.

This is top comedian Russell Kane.

Top, top 20ish.

Russell Kane is one of the hottest comedians in the UK right now.

He's won two of the biggest awards in stand-up comedy

and his national tours are seen by thousands of people.

Today he's going to teach Harry some comedy skills

that he can use in his final routine.

I am guessing you need was of distracting people

when you are doing tricks

if you have to do a switch or hide a hand movement.

A joke can be a brilliant way for people to forget about a card,

a ring or an object or whatever.

You and Russell are going to come up with a small little comedy piece

and then you're going to perform that piece back to me and Russell.

I'm going to leave you to it, I'm going to catch you in a bit.

Slap, there you go. Oh....

I would have gone for a handshake, but I'm old school.

Comedy in a magician's routine

is more than just a way to distract the audience.

It also entertains the crowd, keeping them engaged

throughout the whole show.

-What's the animal?

-A camel.

That's remarkable, because I actually got...

Harry needs to learn how to work comedy into his routine

so he call pull off a top professional performance.

Russell helps Harry brainstorm some ideas.

So what you're going to do. You're going to say,

"Yes, I am Harry, I am a boy wizard, not that one!"

Quite annoyed, before anyone can say it.

With the finger... "Not that one!"

You could even say, "Plus, I don't fancy Hermione."

If you like that. No?

-Nah.

-OK.

Tough crowd.

I thought he would just sit there and go, "What do I say? Tell me what to say?"

He was fearless.

In magic I like to make things disappear,

and if this goes wrong, my career will disappear too.

I think that's quite good.

He was like, "That's not right. I'll do this. Here's my ideas."

As soon as you put a bit of ownership on something,

when you speak it, it comes out of your mouth more naturally.

You deliver the joke like this.

Why did the magician cross the road?

He didn't, it was an illusion.

If it doesn't work or anything, have lines like,

"I'll take awkward, that's fine."

-Things like that.

-Yeah.

-You happy with that?

-Or something like, "Tough crowd."

-Yeah.

Now then, why am I here tonight?

After a short rehearsal it's game time and as well as me

and Russell, I've invited a local audience for Harry to perform to.

Whooping and cheering, stamping your feet and welcome to the stage...

Harry Hilarious.

Will he be able to pull off the jokes and wow the crowd?

You over there, keep clapping. Louder, louder.

Hello, my name is Harry and I'm a boy wizard.

No, not that one.

Good start, Harry,

great delivery and everyone's laughing straight away.

Why did the magician cross the road?

He didn't, it was all an illusion.

Harry's taken on Russell's advice

and is giving us a flawless and funny performance.

Magic is as real as the tooth fairy.

We wrote the joke about the tooth fairy

and then he improved it by adding what we call a topper in comedy,

the bit at the end about the Easter Bunny.

I got Easter eggs, so I know that the bunny is real.

Win, win.

The fact that the highest moment of the whole set was his addition

is something he should be very proud of.

And I should be utterly ashamed.

Thank you.

It's been two weeks since Harry began his magical Turbo Boost.

He's conjuring his way to success,

but for his final performance, he'll have to command

the attention of a large crowd with just his magic and comedy,

so we've come up with a supersized plan.

For Harry's mini challenge,

we head to London's most popular destination for street artists,

Covent Garden,

where Harry will perform his own routine to shoppers and tourists.

Pif, paf, pof!

To compete with all the other entertainers,

Harry's combined some of his favourites

with the new card trick that Fergus taught him.

Same one. Pow.

As well as some Russell Kane-inspired comedy.

If this goes badly today, then my whole career will disappear too.

Fergus, what are the challenges with performing at a place like this?

Well, Covent Garden is obviously known for the area

where street performers come to,

so you are going to have a big crowd,

you're going to have to get people involved,

so it's going to be really tough but great challenge.

Has Harry learnt from all the advice that Fergus and Russell gave him?

Will he be able to impress a tough London crowd?

Are you nervous for him?

Yeah, absolutely.

-What's your name?

-Alfie.

Now then, Alfie, here I have a deck of cards.

Anything special about it?

He's just performing to that boy.

He's got a whole crowd.

One goes into my hand and the other one goes into your hand.

Close your hand tight.

People here aren't getting hyped up enough. It's getting to him.

It's making his tempo rushed a bit.

For that final challenge, he can't let that get to him.

Imagine your card, just your card turning over.

That's good. I thought he might panic at that bit, but he hasn't.

Pull a silly face.

Show it to everyone.

After a bumpy start, Harry finally finds his pace.

The king of spades, was that your card?

That compared to how he did it when I last saw him, totally different.

Much more relaxed, much more direct.

One, two, three.

Unfortunately, my show's ended.

CROWD: Aw.

It's sadder than that!

CROWD: AWW!

If you've liked me, I've been Harry Hilarious.

If you didn't like me, I'm Fergus Flanagan.

And if you really didn't like me, I'm Turbo.

The audience stayed with him, and his mentor Fergus is impressed.

-Yes, well done, mate.

-Well done.

You've just walked out, done a set on Magic Corner at ten years old.

That is absolutely mind-blowing impressive.

High five, put it there.

Well done. I've been giving you a lot of smaller tricks to work with

but your final challenge is going to be on a bigger scale.

What I'd like to do now is give you something that's a bit more visual,

a bit bigger to work with,

and transfer those skills you've learnt on a close up basis

onto the big stage.

So what I'm going to teach you is a classic of magic.

It's called the Professor's Nightmare.

Fergus thinks Harry needs a super boost to his tricks

so it's time to add another string to his magic bow.

This is an old-school illusion where three different sized ropes

are magically made the same size.

-You got it?

-Yep.

-So you're ready to try it?

-Yep.

Spot on, let's do it.

With this trick it's really important that Harry keeps hold of

the ropes at all times to keep the illusion a secret.

Nearly.

That last bit's causing a few problems.

That's all right, we just need to practise that.

At the moment Harry's having difficulty with that last

part of the trick, he keeps dropping the ropes.

If he does that on the day, that will ruin the trick

and it will be a total disaster.

The rope trick that Fergus taught me.

I was dropping them.

But now we've practised, practised, practised...

One, two, three.

..I think I'll be able to do it. Let's go!

Just a week to go

and it's time to tell Harry how big his performance is

and what he needs to do to prepare.

Harry, I'm about to tell you what your final challenge is.

OK.

You are going to be performing on the main stage at the biggest

children's festival in the UK.

OK.

There is an additional big magic trick

that you also will be performing as well.

How does that make you feel, bro?

Excited.

Are you going to be practising extra hard?

-Yes.

-How hard are you going to work?

-Very.

-Take care, peace.

-Bye.

Just under four weeks ago,

I Turbo Boosted ten-year-old Harry and his magic.

With the help of top magician Fergus Flanagan

and some comedy inspiration from Russell Kane,

Harry has mastered the art of sleight of hand trickery

and distraction.

But will Harry succeed in his first professional performance,

or will his magic career vanish in a puff of smoke?

It's the morning of Harry's final challenge

and we've come to LolliBop festival in London.

It's the UK's biggest ever festival for kids with 40,000 visitors

coming to see some of the biggest names in children's entertainment.

If you were to take a look right behind you...

that is the stage that you are going to be performing on

in front of a whole field full of people.

Have you ever performed on a stage that big

-with that many people watching you?

-Not at all, no.

I just felt so excited when I saw the stage.

The nerves are starting to kick in now.

Harry may have seen where he's going to perform,

but his routine is still missing a grand illusion.

With just hours to go, he needs to learn his big,

show-stopping set piece.

Harry, how you doing, my man?

Turbo, nice to see you again.

Harry, are you ready to learn your last trick?

-Definitely.

-Cool.

I know there's something you really want to do

and I've sorted that out for you today.

Turbo, magicians don't share their secrets,

so this one's magicians only.

-See you later.

-Bye.

Oh, I get it, that's cool, I know the drill.

Magicians only, yeah? That's fine.

Harry's dream illusion is to chop the lady in half,

and today he's going to do just that.

You've actually got to shoot it through that slot.

You have to do that blind, basically.

This grand illusion needs to be picked up quickly,

because if Harry doesn't get it right,

he'll not only lose the crowd but can even hurt his assistant inside.

When you put it in, do it gently.

You push it in at an odd angle.

I can do what they're doing.

Look, I'm going to make this flower disappear.

Right before your eyes.

Look, see, gone, no more flower.

Backstage, Harry bumps into CBBC's Dick and Dom,

who want to hear all about his grand final trick.

Before I used to do certain tricks on stage,

I used to practise for a year beforehand.

How long have you been doing this trick?

A few hours.

Are you serious?

And I've only practised twice with an assistant in the box.

I don't know who I feel more sorry for, you or your assistant.

-Good luck, Harry.

-Thanks.

It's showtime.

Four weeks of training comes down to this,

and the nerves are starting to get to Harry.

I'm most worried about it going completely wrong.

His family are in the crowd. Fergus has delivered his final pep talk.

They're going to absolutely love it.

I hope so.

And all that's left is for me to introduce the main man.

Hi, guys, how you doing?

Please give me a big round of applause for Harry Hilarious!

Hello, everybody. Hello.

This is the biggest show I've ever done.

My heart is going a million miles an hour.

I need to warm up.

Sorry about this.

Harry's got off to a great start,

using his comedy to get the crowd going.

That's better.

That's a nice bit to get everyone cheered up, a bit of energy.

You can see I've got one medium, one long and one short piece of rope.

It's time for the rope trick.

Will he be able to hold on to the ropes

and carry it off without any mistakes?

Third piece of rope, gather it up.

If you all blow on it.

And they stretch to three medium size pieces.

This is the moment of truth, this is the hard bit now.

So far, so good.

Harry just needs to stay focused and finish the trick.

So I take this rope and go 1, 2, 3. Bam!

Perfect, perfect.

He did it! His routine has been flawless.

Can he top it off by nailing his grand illusion?

Are you ready?

CROWD CHEER

Remember, Harry has only just learnt how to saw a lady in half.

Pulling this off without a mistake is going to be a massive challenge.

Everyone say bye to Gemma.

ALL: Bye, Gemma!

Harry's assistant Gemma gets into the box

and places her hand through the hole.

Gemma, do you want to put your hand through there?

Now who wants to see something dangerous?

Now it's all on Harry.

Here I have a big blade

which is going to go into the box

with Gemma in it.

This illusion is the hardest of Harry's tricks.

It's testing all his skills,

his technique, distraction

and showmanship all have to be spot on to pull this off.

It's a world away from the small tricks he was performing

before his Turbo Boost.

Nail that blade in the back.

Steel blade into the box.

Harry is doing great, but it's not over yet.

Now for the crucial bit.

There's nothing in the box.

Harry has smashed it.

All that's left to see if Gemma is in one piece.

When I open the box...

Get in! That is a professional performance, my friends!

He went out and absolutely smashed it in front of loads of people.

He did so well. He should be really proud.

It's not just me and Fergus who want to big up his performance.

Team Harry were pretty impressed too.

Harry, well done, you were fantastic.

Really, really good.

He went out there today with no fear, no nerves

and just put on a really good show.

I have been totally Turbo Boosted.

Only four weeks ago I was just performing to my friends and family.

It's been brilliant.

Harry, well done.

Harry was an absolute star on that stage.

He's worked so, so hard throughout his Turbo Boost.

I'm sure this is just the beginning for Harry Hilarious.

And do you know what?

I think he might have taught me a thing or two.

It worked!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd