Film Killer Magic

This programme contains some strong language.

Five magicians are going head-to-head to find out

who is better than the rest.

Is the magic happening yet?

The stakes are deadly...

Oh, shit!

No!

..because the loser will face a trick

that's killed or injured magicians in the past.

-Shut up.

-'It really is...'

I feel sick.

WOMAN SCREAMS

What have you done?!

So, then, let's meet the five magicians slugging it out

in this death-defying contest.

First up is mind-reader Chris Cox, the geek.

-I want you to think of an animal, OK?

-Yeah.

My main job here is to entertain, hopefully to make people laugh.

HE TRUMPETS

Is it an elephant?

And mix lots of different techniques together

to make it look like I can read minds.

But I can't. But I am good at lying, though.

-What was the animal you were thinking of?

-Tiger.

-Ah. That's annoying, innit?

-Yeah. Yeah.

Although it does explain this... HE LAUGHS

Rargh!

Nothing explains that.

Next up, this guy - Dee Christopher.

The Goth.

The one thing in magic that excites me the most is seeing something new.

Let's see if we can get this going. There we go.

Oh, my God!

Seeing something original, something with edge.

I'm trying to put it back, so I can have my 10p back!

THEY LAUGH

This fast-fingered fellow is Damien O'Brien,

the geezer.

Close-up magic is really great, because it's in the people's hands.

Got 11p. OK?

-Mm-hm.

-So, now, look, watch.

If I said I took 10p, how much have I got left?

-1p.

-I've still got 11p.

There's no stage, no elaborate sets.

It's as real as it gets.

Last time. I take the 10, I put it in my pocket. How much have I got left?

There should be 11p there.

It's actually a lime.

THEY LAUGH

Then there's Jasz Vegas,

the fire-breathing queen of magic.

The sort of magic you can expect from me is the unexpected.

-Draw a mouse.

-A mouse?

-Yes. So, your best version of a mouse!

I really enjoy things that are new and fresh, and full of character.

No? Not that one?

It's quite scary, isn't it?

Yeah, a little bit.

TRAP SNAPS

-It's the mouse!

-That is the mouse!

Lastly, it's all-round sex bomb and sunglasses ambassador Ben Hart,

the gent.

Magic is all about the audience who are there.

I will push this knife straight through the box.

It's got to do with, how does the audience interact emotionally

with the magic that you're doing?

-Even though the knife went through, it's heavy, because...

-No!

..there's a solid block of steel inside.

Cos magic happens only in people's heads.

Nowhere else.

No way!

Not only are the magicians competing,

they're also scoring each other's performances out of ten.

All of them trying to avoid that killer trick.

This week's killer trick is...

..the table of death.

Ooh! Deadly sounding.

"The losing magician will be tied to a table

"beneath a lid of lethal steel spikes."

Yes, the table of death is based on a real medieval torture device

that caused agonising death to hundreds of victims.

So, which one of our magicians will have to escape its killer spikes?

"Any mistake with this trick

"could bring a promising magician's career to a gruesome end."

That's not going to happen.

-None of us are promising.

-LAUGHTER

So, what they need now is a theme to base their tricks on.

"To avoid the table of death,

"you'll need to perform tricks on the theme of..."

Film.

There's, like, just a wealth of inspiration for this.

The first films were exhibited by magicians,

and audiences would go and think it was a magic trick,

to see pictures moving.

Magicians have always been really closely tied to film.

It's going to be really interesting

to see what we all come up with.

All the magicians are performing in front of real people,

so you're seeing genuine reactions to their skills.

There are no camera tricks, no stooges, no CGI.

Mostly because we ran out of time to organise them.

And first up to face the film challenge is Damien.

To come up with tricks based around movies is not the easiest thing,

and, in fact, there is one little bit today I'm kind of nervous about.

Damien's trying to impress the laydeez with his knowledge of film.

Ever since I was a kid, I've been obsessed with superhero movies.

And I would sit there and think, if I was a superhero,

what would my superpowers be?

And I would probably combine

my three favourite superheroes' powers together.

My first is Storm from X-Men. She could manipulate the elements.

So, I'll take this bit of receipt, here.

Don't need that.

Did no-one tell him not to litter?

I'm going to burn it. Watch.

Don't take your eyes off. Watch.

And turn it into water...

So, Jennifer, hold out your hands for me.

Look, I can take it a step further.

-I can actually...

-It's cold.

..turn it to ice.

Oh, my God!

It's OK, you can put it on there. It's all right.

-Does anyone have a coin I can use?

-Yeah.

-Can you write your initials on the face of the coin?

-Mm-hm.

Nice, big and clear.

SA.

And can you make sure Jennifer can see that,

and show it to the camera as well?

So, I'm going to take your coin.

-Now, you'd recognise that if you was to see that again?

-Yeah.

Stephanie, hold out your hands for me,

and just squeeze the coin really tight.

Now, my second superpower what I would love to have had -

Magneto, who is also in the X-Men,

his ability was that he could control metal.

This might feel a little weird. Something's slightly happening.

-It's kind of strange, right?

-Uh-huh.

Slowly open your hand and have a look at the coin.

Look what you've done to it.

Oh, my God!

No! It's, like, all bent.

Show 'em the bend.

-Definitely bent, right?

-Yeah.

-And that's your coin, with your initials, yeah?

-Uh-huh.

So, the last superhero whose powers I would love is Superman.

Now, Superman had incredible speed.

Now, I believe I'm pretty quick. In fact...

..if you blink, you might miss this.

On three, two...

one. GLASS CLINKS

-Whoa!

-You may not have seen that.

-You definitely heard something, right?

-Uh-huh.

That was the sound of me running over to that glass

and dropping your signed bent coin into the glass and coming back here.

You don't believe me, do you?

Both of you, come with me.

Come and have a look.

-See in the tea?

-Yeah.

-I don't want to touch it.

Pick up the glass. Go for it.

THEY LAUGH

Use the spoon. Take out the coin.

It's bent.

Take the coin. It's all right.

No! No.

That is crazy.

-Well...

-That's...

-Magical!

OK, so if the magic don't work out, I could be a superhero.

-Oh, my God!

-Cheers, girls.

Oh, my God!

To see the girls freaking out like that...

Oh, my God!

..it was, you know, a lot of fun for me.

It's so, like... Your mind just can't comprehend it.

-It was so weird.

-I want to know how he did it.

He didn't move.

You strive for reactions like that.

No! No.

To get those moments where people are just blown away

by what appears to be real magic in front of them.

That was just crazy.

I'm just glad he didn't try and use his X-ray vision.

I wonder how the other magicians will score him out of ten.

I'm going to give it a...

7.

What a rubbish superhero! He doesn't wear his pants over his trousers.

I'll give him a 7.

I'm going to give him a 7.

It was less superhero, more mediocre hero.

He gets a 7.

Ah, so, that's a middle of the road 28 for not-so super man Damien.

Next up, though, making some movie magic, is Jasz.

Because this week's theme is film,

I'm going to do a trick inspired by the silent movies.

-Hello!

-Hi!

Does she really need tape to stop her talking? No self-control.

OK.

Yep.

33.

Yep.

THEY LAUGH

One, two, three,

four, five, six...

Pfft, yeah, she could've picked a smaller number.

..eight, nine, ten,

11, 12, 13, 14, 15...

We are now just essentially watching a woman count to the number 33.

..19, 20, 21, 22...

And they say BBC Three can't do entertainment.

..24, 25, 26,

27, 28, 29,

30, 31, 32, 33.

At last!

So, that is the king of spades.

-OK.

-OK.

(What are we watching?)

Amazingly, the king of spades HAS gone.

Yeah, it's not there!

Ouch.

No...

Oh, my God!

It was sealed all this time.

-Oh!

-THEY LAUGH

That's.... Oh...!

I-I-I just thought it was incredible.

Like, I didn't realise that the tape was going to be part of the magic.

I just thought it was kind of, like, more the ambience.

I really enjoyed performing that trick -

I think it went very well, and they really seemed to enjoy it.

I love the way it looked, I love the concept,

but the trick didn't really do it for me -

it was kind of all style and no substance.

Is that a bit harsh?

I'm just being, er...

Ben, that is a very black and white analysis.

Eh? Uh... Time for the scores.

Jasz's film trick blew me away.

So, for that reason, she's got a 9.

I give her...

6.

It gets...

a 6.

Jasz's silent movie trick was a little style over substance, for me,

so I'll give it a 7.

So, that's also 28 for Jasz,

making her joint top and also joint bottom with Damien.

Next up is Ben, who's off to become the third wheel

in an otherwise lovely cinema date with two special guests.

I've brought along television presenters Sam and Mark.

I'm going to show them my bizarre magic. I hope they like it.

-Sam's scared of magicians.

-Are you?

-You're wizards, aren't you?

I think the other magicians will like it,

because it's something a bit different from me.

If it all goes to plan, and I don't end up...

I dunno, blowing my face off.

-What's your favourite thing about the cinema?

-Food.

Food - yeah, that's what I love. I love popcorn.

-Popcorn.

-I'm the same.

-Yeah. It's not cheap, though.

-And you don't get very much for your money, do you?

-No, you don't.

-I want, like, a... Like, a wheelie bin full.

-Yeah!

That's a bit greedy.

I've picked this wheelie bin up from round the back of the cinema.

Let's get rid of this.

Yeah, that sounds hygienic.

Nothing in there except some ticket stubs and half-eaten hot-dog buns.

-Come and have a look, there's nothing inside the bin.

-Yep.

-There is nothing inside the bin.

-Nothing inside the bin.

Now, I'm going to attempt to make some popcorn.

Obviously you need a few things for that.

First of all, I've got my... I've got a cap.

Do you want a hand to see in there?

-Yes.

-Your wish is my command.

-Yeah, nothing.

-I love that.

-Yeah, that's an empty cap, that.

Do you know that actually, secretly,

you found out what the magic gesture is?

-What?

-What you just did...

-What did I do?

Do it again, over the top.

Do you hear this?

-POPCORN RUSTLES

-Oh, my God!

-Look.

-Because now, inside there... BOTH:

-No!

-..there's...

-Oh, look at that!

-Seeds!

Seeds, yeah, well, popcorn kernels.

"Seeds"! Right, I'm going to put all these in here.

It's all gone. Now...

When you go to the cinema, and you get popcorn,

do you have a particular type of popcorn you like?

-Like, a flavour?

-Oh, sugar.

-Yeah, I have sweet all the time.

-I can't eat salt.

I'd better make some sugar appear, like...this.

See?

-It's a bit of sugar.

-Cool!

-Definitely sugar.

Although that's actually quite a bit more than I was expecting.

-It's a lot!

-Yeah.

-It's a lot.

The film starts in, what?

Five minutes.

Wow, that's going to be terrible for me teeth, that.

That really is a lot.

THEY LAUGH

Seriously, that's ridiculous.

So, all of that, popcorn kernels and sugar,

would probably make you pretty thirsty, wouldn't it?

-I'd say so, yeah.

-I'm going to give you these 3-D glasses.

-OK.

-Pop them on.

-Cheers, dude.

-Thanks very much.

These will make everything appear a lot closer to you,

-a lot more real.

-Wow, you look real.

-Whoa!

-And I've noticed there was a can in here.

-Yeah?

I'm going to try a film special effect close-up with this can.

So, you might see the can start to... This is pretty weird, actually.

-The can is actually...

-Oh, my God!

-It's going normal!

-This can actually...

-It's going back to its original shape.

..uncrushes itself, and not only does it uncrush itself -

of course, it's still empty, unless I just rub my finger over the top,

and you'll see it reseals itself.

-See?

-That's amazing!

Completely resealed, and completely full...

-of drink. I need you to check that that really is...

-Wow!

-That is impressive.

-..now completely full.

There you go, you can have that one. And you can have that one.

Need something a bit stronger, after that!

-Thanks, mate.

-That's all right. Let me take these off you.

Cheers, dude. Thank you very much.

Now, I thought I would try to make our popcorn,

-but I wanted to do it in the most filmic way I could.

-OK.

I'm going to see what happens

if I can make all of the popcorn kernels pop at exactly the same time.

-Yeah, good.

-You're going to need these. Whack them on.

And now I just make the magic gesture.

-Whoo!

-And I think that's done it!

Look.

-Oh!

-Yay!

The bin is now completely full of popcorn.

Look, you can taste it, if you don't mind eating from a bin.

-I'm all right.

-I'll have a go.

-Yeah?

-I'll have a go.

..the sugar appear, look.

It was amazing to see a proper magician

do it in front of your eyes.

Whoo!

I thought this trick would make Ben quite POP-ular.

-Ugh!

-It was a little bit "corny", though, wasn't it?

Oh, dear!

Although, I have noticed, some of this is salted, as well.

What?!

Fucking prick.

So, how did the other magicians score Ben's explosive trick?

I love Ben's magic, but this one, a bit like popcorn,

left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

I'll give it a 7.

I'll give him a...

7.

Ben's popcorn trick

gets a 6 from me.

He didn't give me no popcorn, so, he gets a 7.

Damien scoring with his stomach, there.

Which means Ben gets 27, leaving him bottom of the scoreboard

and prime candidate for being spiked.

Next up, Chris is going to combine mind-reading and movies.

I wanted to show people their favourite films.

Turns out that's not a magic trick,

that's just the magic of a DVD player.

So, instead, I'm going to try and act out the films

people are just thinking of.

Look out, Hollywood, a star is about to be born.

In order to focus their minds,

Chris has asked an audience of film students

to write down their favourite films on a piece of paper,

and fold them up.

These are then collected in a bowl and put on full view,

so Chris can't tamper with them.

Now, me, with my encyclopaedic knowledge of films

and a set of costumes and props,

I am now going to try and act out some of your favourite films. OK?

So, really see them in your head, and see me act them out.

Can you stand up, quickly, for me?

There's a song in your head, isn't there?

Let me...

Let me try.

# Look for the

# BEAR necessities... # LAUGHTER

# The simple bear necessities... #

-Is that it?

-Yeah.

Yes! OK, brilliant... APPLAUSE

Someone give him a record deal.

Let's try something else.

Can you stand up for me?

Why are you thinking of basket...?

Is the first movie you ever saw Space Jam?

-Yeah!

-Yes!

What an amazing film! OK... APPLAUSE

Thank you, you can sit down for me.

OK, um...what's your name?

-Rachel.

-Rachel, OK.

I'm going to try something different with you, Rachel.

I'm going to get you to read MY mind this time.

So, Rachel...

I have lots of favourite films.

I'm going to think of one, and you are going to try and read my mind.

-So, at the minute you don't know what my favourite film is, correct?

-Mm-hm.

-Got no idea?

-No.

-Right, let's try this. So...

What type of movie do you think my favourite film is? What genre?

Animation.

Animation, good, OK.

LAUGHTER

Very good.

APPLAUSE

What year do you think my favourite film came out?

-2013.

-2013.

OK!

Amazing stuff, Rachel.

Let's go for it.

This is definitely my favourite film.

What do you think my favourite film is, Rachel?

Frozen.

It's Frozen! APPLAUSE

Rachel, reading minds!

So, if you haven't seen Frozen, it's great.

It's the story of two princesses.

One of them has the power to make snow and sing like a diva!

It's everything, it's everything I've always wanted to be.

A princess...

have the ability to sing...

and be able to make it snow.

HE MIMES ALONG: # Let it go

# Let it go

# And I'll rise like the break of dawn

# Let it go, let it go

# That perfect girl is gone!

# Here I stand

# In the light of day

# Let the storm rage on

# The cold never bothered me anyway! #

Thank you very much.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you.

# Let it go, let it go... #

I just don't know how he's done it.

It's quite scary, actually.

Yeah, scary is the word.

What was really good of getting the girl in the front row

to read his mind.

He made it snow.

It was brilliant.

All while doing THAT face.

But, did he impress the other magicians?

Scores out of 10, please.

He read minds AND he done magic!

I give Chris...

an 8.

I loved it when Chris made it snow indoors,

so I'm going to give him...

7.

What's not to love?

He gets an 8.

He gets a 7.

So, that's a star performance for new frontrunner Chris,

with 30.

Which means he has escaped becoming a human pincushion.

Last up, it's Dee - Gothic horror fan, man of the night,

and lord of all that is dark.

I wonder if he's chosen a rom-com(!)

It's not a massively magical stunt,

but there is quite a magical moment enshrouded in...

horror.

Are you a horror fan, Victoria?

I enjoy them after them - during them, not so much.

OK. Well, I'm a huge horror fan.

So, tonight I'm going to give you the opportunity

to star in your very own horror movie.

SHE LAUGHS

We're not going to worry so much about the plot,

we're just going to worry about the one thing

that all real horror fans care about.

-The kill scene.

-No, no, no.

-SHE LAUGHS

We need to decide on the killer.

I suppose you're probably wondering what's in the box.

Would you like to slowly open the lid and take a look?

Oh, man.

What we have here is a collection of old dolls.

Each one is representative of a famous horror movie monster.

Would you like to take out each one and lay them across the table?

So we have a clown...

a vampire...

a ghost...

..a mummy...

a zombie...

..a werewolf...

a skeleton...

and finally, a voodoo doll.

I'd like you to cast your eyes over all the figures.

I'd like you to pick up the one that represents best your biggest fear.

The clown.

Good choice. Victoria, if you could,

could you hold the doll in front of your face and stare into his eyes?

I wanted to establish a connection with the doll

and lock the image of his face into your mind.

It's creeping me out so much.

Follow me.

You'll also have noticed I've set up a tent.

What do you think?

It'll do for tonight's activities.

Would you like to take a seat on the bench right there in the centre?

That'll do.

A bit better. Are you cold?

-A wee bit.

-It's a little cold. I've got a blanket. It's fine.

-Here you go.

-Thank you.

Now...

it's almost like a night-light.

I want you to focus on the light...

..and imagine your nightmares becoming reality.

From the light, we conjure the dark.

From the light, we conjure the dark.

From the light, we conjure the dark!

From the light, we conjure the dark!

SHE SQUEALS CLOWN LAUGHS MANIACALLY

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Sweet dreams.

Oh, my God. Oh, that just... I'm shaking so much.

We conjure the dark!

-SHE SQUEALS

-Oh, my God!

I wanted to be scared by this but the scariest thing was that

I didn't have any reception on my mobile.

It was just a shock moment and she loved it, really.

-SHE SQUEALS

-Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

I just want to go home now.

As Dee said, she loved it.

So, what did the other magicians make of Dee's scary clowning around?

I felt like Dee's trick was kind of lost in the woods.

It's not as bad as a three so I'll give it a...

five.

I always think magic should be entertaining, not scary.

I will give it a six.

Dee gets...

a seven.

Dee's trick was really scary, but I absolutely loved it.

So I give him a nine.

So, Dee ties with Ben for the lowest score.

Who will it be feeling the cold steel of those spikes?

It's time to let the magicians know who is the winner/torturer

and find out who will face the Table of Death.

This week's winner with a score of 30 is...

..Chris!

-Really?

-Yes. Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Can you check that's not an admin error?

The losing score is 27.

A total achieved by...

Dee and...

Oh!

..Ben.

-ALL:

-Oh!

Because we have a tie, it is down to the winner to decide

which of the lowest scorers will face the killer trick.

Oh, that's horrible.

But I'll use the power.

THEY LAUGH

I would like to see on the Table of Death...

Spread-eagled on the table.

-..Ben Hart.

-LAUGHTER

Table of Death it is.

I love you still. I still love you.

Whoo! Wa-hey!

I just don't really... I kind of don't even know what to think.

Like, if this goes wrong, I'm...

-You're fucked.

-Yeah, I'm dead.

So, it is time for Ben to face this week's killer trick.

So, I have to escape from the clutches of the Table of Death.

I'm not really particularly experienced at escaping from things.

I've got a small amount of knowledge but not masses.

I'm very apprehensive.

As you can see, we've got some firefighters on hand

in case things go wrong.

-Here it is.

-Christ.

-Good, isn't it?

-The Table of Death.

-OK.

So, what we've got here is the table.

CHRIS KNOCKS ON TABLE OK.

-Up here, the death.

-Nice.

I thought they'd be fake.

-I thought they'd be fake as well.

-Now, they are...

They're definitely solid.

So, here's what's going to happen.

-You'll be lying down here.

-OK.

-We've got this rope.

-Now, this rope is holding up the death part of the table.

-OK.

I'll pop this candle under the rope, the rope will burn,

eventually Mr Gravity will do his job and this will come

-flying towards the bottom of the table.

-Nice.

-Very simple job for you.

-Mm-hm.

Before the rope burns out, you've got to get out of there.

And how do I know how long it would take for the rope to burn through?

-HE MUMBLES:

-I don't know.

-So that's... that's just guesswork.

-Yeah.

-Like...

-Reassuring.

-I would imagine, don't dilly-dally with it.

-Just probably get on with it.

-OK. So, if this goes wrong...

-Very much the candle's fault.

-I see.

-Right, shall we do this?

The firefighters will check there's no funny business

and that these are real handcuffs.

-You look... You were terrified.

-I'm fucking... I'm fucking terrified.

Do you want to get it over and done with?

Yes, look, I'm offering myself to you.

All right? On you hop.

-Straddle the rope.

-OK. Like this?

-Yeah.

I'm going to tie your cuffs to the rope now.

-Honestly, I can't get out cuffs without anything.

-No, that is true.

I've got something for you here. A little...

A little paperclip. So, do you want to open wide?

-Oh, no.

-Yeah. Open and then close.

There you go. Thumbs up when you're ready.

OK. See you in a bit.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, sort of.

OK.

Here we go.

-The candle is under the rope. Good luck.

-Oh, fucking hell.

-OK, right, I'm going for the rope first.

-Good.

What type of knot did you tie?

-Just like what I do with my shoes.

-Hang on.

-Can you tell me what's the candle looking like?

-It is...

That's burning a bit quicker than I thought it would do.

BEN GRUNTS

Hang on a second. I need to just...

Right, that's pretty smoky.

OK, all right.

I'm not getting this. Wait. Hang on. We might have to stop.

That is burning quite a lot now so...

OK, yeah, all right, OK. OK.

-Is that the rope?

-OK, yeah, I'm going onto this.

-Fucking hell!

-Bollocks.

APPLAUSE

Well done, Benny.

You all right?