Episode 1 Now You See It

In the world of magic, you can't trust your eyes...

..or your duvet.

You'll discover that what goes up should come down,

but sometimes doesn't.

You'll get to see how some tricks are done

and how some tricks are done badly.

Plus, we'll show you illusions on a grand scale

and some a little smaller.

That's so weird.

Brace yourself, it could get messy.

Welcome to Now You See It.

One thing magic's great for is blowing up balloons...

..although you can get carried away.

-HIGH-PITCHED VOICE:

-Wow, whoa, what's going on? Too high! Too high!

And we all know balloons can go pop, but his one's gone one better...

A whole bottle of it.

Meanwhile, here's Troy with someone's pop.

Sorry, I know you don't work here.

Are you allowed to try these before you buy them?

-Cos I'm not sure if I'll like it.

-No, no.

But, if you watch this, I can actually take the sandwich out.

What are you doing?

You can't do that. What do you think you're on?

I think Troy's confusing this supermarket

with an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I need to know if I like it.

To be honest...

If you're not too sure, I'll have it then!

Maybe I should put it back.

A handy trick when you pick a sandwich

that turns out not to be in the meal deal.

And that one's now a bargain - 10% off.

Over in chilled foods, there's a ghost out shopping.

Not really. It's only a couple of pranksters who love nothing more

than to momentarily inconvenience pensioners

with a remote-controlled trolley.

IMITATES TANNOY: Wind up in aisle three.

This mayhem is nothing to that woman -

she's been shopping with toddlers.

Still, never mind the remote-controlled trolley,

that man's thinking, "Who's had a bite out of this sandwich?"

Let's nip down the road now, to the corner shop to be entertained by...

He's deep undercover as a shop assistant.

Paul Daniels does the night shift.

..you don't want them?

No, that's too good.

And what is it with magicians?

Do none of them to make enough money to buy their own food?

What?

Oh.

-MOUTH FULL:

-How's the weather doing, man?

-I thought that was ours.

-I thought that was... You got it from there, did you?

-Yeah.

I haven't had my break, so...

It's all right, ain't it?

That'll be a no.

And don't even think about asking him to pay 5p for the bag.

Can I have a couple more for my break? Is that all right, man?

Can I just take a few more for my break?

Yeah, but do I have to get another one?

-No, cos you've paid for 'em, cos it beeped, didn't it?

-Huh?

I've hardly had many. Look, they're pretty much full.

Pretty much full, in't they?

Put that back on for you.

Is this a dream or nightmare?

See that?

Amazing.

The next customer's buying cat food - let's see how peckish Ben really is.

Hey, guys, I've got a quick trick with a bottle, if you...

Oh, on the rocks.

That was not magic!

Oh, I don't know.

Nothing strange here, just a completely genuine taxi driver

with an utterly convincing false beard.

Normally, the magician cuts a woman in half -

she needn't worry though, he's not going to do that.

Nope, he's going to cut his taxi in half.

SHE LAUGHS

I...

SHE SCREAMS

She can't believe what she's seeing - the meter's still running.

I want to move to Brazil, everyone is so trusting.

Still, not the worst minicab driver I've ever had.

I'd give him a tip - make sure your taxi's glued together, mate.

Right, what else can we cut in half?

How about a cucumber?

I'm just hoping all these people know each other.

Oh, look who it is, Drummond Money Coutts, aka DMC.

Very, very simple. This is a very standard casino die and a hat.

-Cool.

-OK.

I'm going to set the die to a number,

I'm going to do this under the hat,

and I want you to name a random number between one and six.

-Now, what is your first number?

-Five.

-Five?

Wouldn't it be great if she said four and a half?

Impressive. Although, for all we know,

he gets it wrong five sixths of the time.

So I can set it to a different number, which...

Set it to that.

So, again, take a moment, think through.

Number between one and six.

Or pi, 3.1415...

-Four.

-Four?

No way. How are you doing that?

No! How are you doing that? It's magic.

So, this is the big one. OK?

So, Rochelle...

Final number.

Leave that there. Any number, one to six.

-Three.

-You want three?

The big one.

How did you...? And why is the dice bigger?

No, it grew under the hat.

To be fair, it's the only thing growing under his hat.

There's nothing in here, there's not even a small dice.

Where did the small one go?

This is the most fun anyone's ever had outside an All Bar One.

Cats, dogs, hamsters, gather round,

as it's now the point of the show we like to call...

And here's top American illusionist Rick Thomas.

Pop the woman in the cage, nothing weird about that.

And a lovely straddle there.

Is this part of the trick,

or is she failing to communicate with the deaf?

Super scarf action.

Oh, that's nearly a moon walk!

They're absolutely loving this trick at the National Accountancy Awards.

I must say, Rick has some incredible dance moves in his back pocket -

I'm just wishing he'd bring them out and use them.

Not bad, but I'm not sure he'd make it in to the second week of Strictly.

Wow! I did not see that coming

and, tragically, neither did she.

Let's enjoy an even more impressive version of that trick.

It looks cute, but bear in mind

that it is a killer beast, dragged from the Ninth Dimension.

And, finally, in this week's Animal Magic, a genuine egg...

although it was laid by the great Hendini.

But what's going to be inside it?

This is the moment of truth to see how many yolks is inside this egg.

Are you watching?

I'd be really impressed if it was a giant dice showing the number three.

Oh, my God.

WOMAN LAUGHS

Shut up!

You are having a laugh.

-YOUNG CHILD:

-Naughty word!

That's an egg!

There's an egg inside the egg. You've seen that...

Which leads to the age-old question,

which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Or the egg inside the egg?

The egg isn't good, is it, Dad?

Right, hang on.

This is unbelievable.

That's just two yolks, an egg inside an egg.

I can't believe that. I cannot believe it.

I think it's fair to say he can't believe it.

You saw it here first!

More food-based magic now from the brilliant Andrew Main.

But first, he needs some personal artefacts.

OK, let's see.

-You want to be very careful with this, OK?

-OK.

-Want to be very, very, very careful. Right?

-OK.

Because the thing is is, out here, shiny objects are...

Grab my wrist, grab my wrist.

Hold on to the wrist, yeah. Don't let go, don't let go of the wrist.

Oh, oh, oh.

-What did you do?

-Now we have a problem.

Told you you had to be careful. Maybe it's in the food.

-Let's take a look.

-Oh, my God!

Open up, open up.

Come here. Let's go over here. Come here.

-Open this up.

-OK.

-Open up.

-All right.

Your salad, here.

Just... You know what? Let's be sure. Let's...

That's what I call a tossed salad.

Are you really serious right now?

I want to check... That's not it.

I got it. Stick your finger there.

No, no.

-No.

-Still no sign of the earring.

-Do you have any other food?

-All I have is my dressing.

All right, check that.

Dump it out.

This is my earring covered in ranch...

-That's your earring?

-..dressing.

Well, that's one way to persuade her boyfriend to nibble her ear.

Word of advice, if a stranger asks you to hand over your jewellery,

they might not always be a magician.

Now, here's Richard Osman getting his head down after recording

another 400 episodes of Pointless.

Don't you hate it when the chambermaid

bursts into your room unannounced?

And now we arrive at the point in the show where we say...

This Russian street magician will perform for anyone who'll watch.

He craves the love and approval of strangers.

He's a lean, mean, leaning machine.

They're impressed. So far, so good.

But to win them over completely, he needs to go one step further.

Having succeeded brilliantly leaning over dry land,

he now confidently demonstrates his skill at leaning over...

Oh, dear.

Quick, call the emergency services for when leaning stunts go wrong.

Here's the operator waiting to take his call.

If you enjoy doing magic,

and you've managed to mess up one of your tricks on film,

we'd love to see it.

For details, go to...

And now to a master of his art, Damien O'Brien,

who's demonstrating his superpowers -

the first of which seems to be

emptying a cafe on a busy Saturday morning.

-Does anyone have a coin I can use?

-Erm, yeah.

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

-Mmm-hmm.

Nice, big and clear.

And show it to the camera as well.

So I'm going to take your coin.

-You'd recognise that if you were to see that again?

-Yeah.

Tell you what, Stephanie, hold out your hand for me

and just squeeze the coin really tight.

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

Magneto, who's also in the X-Men,

his abilities was that he could control metal.

This might feel a little weird, or something slightly happening.

-It's kind of strange, right?

-Uh-huh.

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

What is it? What's he done?

THEY LAUGH

No. It's all bent.

Well, that's her bus fare home ruined.

That's your coin with your initials, yeah?

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

Superman had incredible speed. I believe I'm pretty quick. In fact...

If you blink, you might miss this.

Three,

two,

-one.

-METAL DROPS

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.

Don't believe me, do you?

Both of you, come with me.

Come have a look.

See in the tea? 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, that's right.

Whoa!

Sadly, that's no longer legal tender.

I can't get enough of tricks involving hot beverages,

so let's have another one and let's find out the secret in...

Ah, lovely, a nice relaxing cup of coffee

in a motorway service station.

They are magical places.

These spoons are trying to escape their cups -

they've just been told Uri Geller is in the building.

There's not been this much excitement in that cafe

since they put paninis on the menu.

If you want to find out how Etienne Pradier got the spoons to

magically fly out the cups, we'll reveal all later in the show.

Still to come - Dynamo rocks Sam Smith's world...

That's so weird.

..we meet this magician's biggest fan,

and we're pushing the boat out with a big finish from Criss Angel.

But now, our less than useful...

This week's top tip for budding magicians -

always keep a magic prop in the glove compartment of the car,

so, if you're stopped by the cops, you can try and win them over.

Ready...

set and...

-go.

-One...

This man's solving a Rubik's Cube for the police.

Blimey, in this country, they just see if you can walk in a straight line.

..eight, nine, ten...

This is how many days he's getting jailed for wasting police time.

-14...

-Keep on going past 15. Keep going.

-..15, 16, 17...

-We'll go for 20.

-..18, 19, 20.

So about 20...

-We're going to mix it up. Your name?

-Officer Brady.

Brady. Officer Brady, nice to meet you. I'm Steven.

And so watch, is that still mixed up on every single side?

-It appears to be.

-Watch, with it mixed up, if I turn it once

-it's still going to be mixed up?

-Yes.

Cheating happens when you toss it in the air, like that.

That was so fast, he'll end up with a speeding ticket.

How did you do that?

If he can solve a Rubik's Cube instantly,

what on earth did he do for the rest of the '80s?

Here's the best part.

From mixed up, we're going to do one-handed behind the back.

When I catch it, it's going to be back to solved.

So, watch close, from mixed up...

On every single side, from mixed up, one-handed behind the back.

When I catch it again, take a look. That's one second, right there.

How did he do that?

Yeah, that's great! He's still under arrest though.

That was awesome, man.

Meanwhile, this truck's been given the finger.

Turn around!

Gah!

OK, just need to put the wipers on -

there's a magician stuck to the windscreen.

Mmm, that fresh four-of-diamond smell is my favourite.

Keeping with the car theme,

it's time now to showcase this week's highly unusual skill,

as I exclaim, crikey...!

One minute it's a man in a weird costume,

the next he's transformed himself in to a truck.

When he's ill, I wonder, does he call an ambulance or the AA?

This is one trick where you don't want a prankster stuffing

a potato in the exhaust pipe.

Let's be honest, you don't see that every day.

Now, what have we here?

Stretched out on the banquette,

it's former Pussy Cat Doll Kimberley Wyatt...

and illusionist Jason Latimer,

who's great, but I'll admit he hasn't totally fooled me

into believing that's a real painting.

Although, to be fair, the eyes do follow you round the room.

Steady as she goes.

APPLAUSE

You think that's clever -

Kimberley's actually singing opera at the same time.

Incredible.

She's been framed.

How does this work?

It's either years studying transcendental meditation,

or a big magnet.

These innocent young people have been asked to put some handy

household hints to the test, but they haven't the slightest

hint that sitting on their right is magician Ben Hart.

"Using the materials provided, make stains on each other's T-shirts."

OK, so...basically this...

There, that is dirty.

That stinks.

"Step two..."

"Pick up the hairdryer provided and then carefully stick

"the tinfoil onto the T-shirt, covering the stains."

And then...

And then, give it a 15 seconds blast.

Ah, this reminds me of the time

I tried to roast a turkey in a hotel room.

Five, six, seven, eight, nine...

Remember, apart from Ben,

they all think this is a genuine way of removing stains.

But, as you can see, it's a trick, so please don't try this at home.

-Look what you've done.

-Mine's...

Yours are gone! Why hasn't mine?

Wow! Yours has totally gone.

There's literally nothing there.

That... What?!

Meanwhile, at the other end of the marquee, it's Sam Smith and Dynamo,

but they're not here to mess up each other's T-shirts.

-I'm scared.

-I want you to think of any artist

-that's performing over the weekend.

-OK.

Got someone?

Yes.

Can I take your programme?

Yeah.

That pot plant really brightens things up, doesn't it?

This is so weird.

Ha-ha!

Oh, my God.

Is the person you're thinking of - don't say their name -

-but is it on that page?

-Yeah.

Look at me.

Snoop Dog.

That's so weird.

And that's not the first time the word Snoop Dog and weird

have been uttered in the same sentence.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the vanishing Jocelyn.

This defies all possible explanations,

except that one.

I mean, how hard can this trick be?

..two, three!

-Argh!

-Hmm, yeah, quite hard.

Ow!

It's Kaylen here, and today my little four-year-old nephew

wanted to come and shop with me at the grocery store.

When we got there, I gave him the list and he couldn't read it,

so I had to figure out a way

to make it a little bit more visual for him to understand.

This was the list that I showed him.

This is the idea I had to make it a

little bit more visual.

If we just... If we give it a little ripple, like so,

you can actually see...

Oh, and, while you're at it, I think you need some more Post-it Notes.

Remember the jumping spoons?

Yeah? Well, this is where we find out how he did it.

'So, what's the secret of my jumping spoons?

'Well, I can tell you, it's really very simple.

'The cups are normal, it's what I put in them that creates the magic.

'Let me present a bulldog clip and a sugar lump.

'Place the sugar in the clip, put it in the cup,

'carefully place a teaspoon on top.

'Now add some liquid.

'Doesn't matter whether it's tea, coffee - or, in this case, water -

'and watch what happens.

'The liquid will quickly dissolve the sugar,

'springing the clip and causing the spoon to fly.'

Et voila! So easy. Why not try it yourself?

Because I might have someone's eye out.

Many a magic trick requires the presence

of a glamorous assistant or two,

but that's not what these two are here to do.

They don't even know they're taking part in a magic trick.

HERE'S the glamorous assistant,

joining them for a simulated skydive.

Helmets on, we wouldn't want any accidents.

Three, two, one - Geronimo!

Well, it's one way to get a face-lift.

They think it's grandad's first time

and that everyone's taking very good care of him.

The last thing they'd want is for him

to be left alone with a powerful fan.

I'm sure there are many levels of safety procedures in place -

no-one is going to get hurt.

Oh, my mistake.

Well, it's a quicker way of getting upstairs than a Stannah Stairlift.

Don't tell me that that sweet old man's first skydive has

ended in terrible tragedy.

Oh, no, here he is stumbling out of the disabled toilet.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

LAUGHTER

The length some magicians will go to to get a kiss from a pretty girl.

Remember, it's not the size of your fan but what you do with it.

I wondered what Lembit Opik was up to these days.

That's pretty impressive, but one thing I would say,

when your suit's as loud as that, sir,

no-one's looking at your hair.

Oh, I'm blown away by this trick...

as was he.

Now it's worldwide sensation Lu Chen

taking some Japanese people into a Gregg's.

They can't believe it - two steak bakes for £1.50,

but that's not why they're here.

HE SPEAKS JAPANESE

SCREAMING

Now, Mary and Paul would hate this -

they like all the bakes to look exactly the same.

I was like that after my first triple espresso.

Here's a decaffeinated version of the trick.

Not only did it change colour, it's now gluten-free.

Time now for...

With American master magician Criss Angel,

who this week is on his holidays.

Now I'm going to need a couple of people to help me out.

Hi, how are you?

Do me a favour, go get somebody else, I need one more person,

whoever you want.

Anybody at all.

Somebody right now. There she is.

Over here and sign her hand for me.

Sign it big so that everybody can see that.

Show the camera.

Andy, OK. Good.

Now, you have the camera, take it out your bathing suit.

Can you record? Everybody here, you guys...

Folks, there's absolutely nothing out on the water,

except for four jet skis going clockwise, right?

We have the Duke.

The Duke is a clipper ship. OK?

Over here - it's actually a sail boat -

over here, we have The Prince, right? An ocean liner.

And then, over here, we got the Cabaret,

right over here, this is a cruise ship.

And last but not least, we have the Gorgeous - luxury yacht.

All of these ships have been all around the world.

Now what I want you to do is I want you to imagine yourself

being on one of these amazing ships.

-OK, get one ship in your mind...

-Just one?

Just one. Visualise yourself on the ship.

OK? OK, you have it?

-On the count of three, I want you to yell out what ship it is, OK?

-OK.

Everybody help me out, on the count of three.

You're going to say one, two, three with me, OK?

Here we go. On a count of three.

One, two,

-three! What is...?

-Cabaret!

Cabaret! Now!

Right there!

Whoa!

That is actually amazing.

Chris just transported that assistant onto

a 100 million cruise liner.

And to think, Lu Chen got the same reactions with a macaroon.

SCREAMING

Join us next time to find out what else we've got under our hats.

I can promise you surprises, amazement, bewilderment

and big laughs.