Episode 4 Now You See It

Welcome to a world of magic and illusions -

a place where the most surprising things happen

and where your dreams really can come true.

Think that one's a cheese dream.

Tonight, you will witness

commuters who have lost their way,

a man eating his five-a-day...

..and reckless behaviour on the Queen's highway.

Don't worry, he's damaged nothing important.

Some of the magic will be dramatic,

some of the stunts will be spectacular

and some of the illusions will be intense.

This is Now You See It.

Now, before you try any magic trick,

you're going to need a wand...

or two...

Well, seeing as we're here,

let's go for three.

I'd suggest we give him a big hand,

but I guess he must already have one.

Either way that was WAND-erful.

Peter Valance has got amazing skills.

Though, on the downside, table 12 are having to eat soup with a fork.

BEATBOXING

How often do you see magic involving an obsolete music format?

Yes, it's Lee Ryan and Anthony Costa from Blue

launching their new careers as a human beatbox and CD rack combo.

These guys really know how to throw a party(!)

How long did they say the cab would be?

Oh, really?

Now here's a sight that's all too familiar in homes across Britain.

You ask some friends round to help assemble that Ikea bookshelf

and then get in a bit of a muddle over the instructions.

And even more annoyingly for this lot...

DOORBELL RINGS ..there's the doorbell.

That'll be the pizza.

Hey, I wonder if that works with just one person and a chair.

Here goes.

Take it away.

THUD

No. No, it doesn't.

Right, enough of human beings for a second,

let's take a look at some Animal Magic -

and here's a sentence you don't often hear.

We're going to make four elephants vanish!

Yep, Criss Angel's going to make four sizable creatures vanish

and, just to clarify, he means the animals,

he's not being rude about his American audience. Thank you.

Attach to your left hand.

Criss has got a foolproof way of ensuring his audience stay to watch.

...that are handcuffing everybody to each other.

We have our human chain complete, is that true?

Everybody good back there?

THEY CHEER

Let's raise...

the back curtain up.

Elephants are perfect for magic as they're very easy to train.

Whenever you tell them something, they're all ears.

...of the curtain, creating an extra layer of impossibility.

Oh good, I like my impossibility to come in layers -

like a magic Viennetta.

Raise up the front curtain.

Let's do this bad boy!

Raise it up.

Raise it up.

Nice to see Criss has his own monogram sheets.

I aspire to that.

You can't take this off.

Here's a peanut. Wait till I give you a peanut.

There you go. There's a peanut. There you go.

Are you ready?

Now that's what I call a dazzling trick.

Oh, the four elephants, by the way, are absolutely fine.

I've no idea what happened to the four elephant handlers,

however, who also vanished.

Oh, well.

-Katie and...

-Al.

-Al. Katie and Al.

For those who like their tricks like they like their coffee,

here's one that's scalding hot,

a bit liquidy and costs about, oh, £2.70.

You're not going to drink that now, are you?

Well, we're going to do something kind of cool.

Good thing it's a double cup. We'll try a...

I'm going to pour half into this one.

Like that, OK?

-And are you right-handed or left-handed?

-Right-handed.

Take your right hand, take this one and hold it, like, over your head.

Don't drop it, don't spill it on yourself.

-Are you right or left?

-Right-handed.

-OK, same thing as her.

-Hold that up over your head.

-OK.

All right, don't sit it on your head, hold it over your head.

-All right, Katie you're going to go first. OK?

-OK.

Now, what I want you to do is step this way just a bit,

yes, to give you guys some room.

You don't want to step off the edge a little bit too,

like over... Away from the edge. OK.

Well, just do this a sec.

Katie, what you're going to do is you're going to close your eyes

-and slowly turn in a circle.

-Oh, boy, OK.

-Now, try and make a perfect 360 with your eyes closed.

-OK.

That's, that's... Give it a go. Whenever you're ready.

Nice and slow, nice and slow.

That's pretty good.

OK, you're good. All right? Good job.

All right, Al, you're going to try the exact same thing,

but I would go a little slower too. That one's pretty quick

and you're close to the edge, so go nice and slow.

Ooh, sneaky!

He's drinking the girl's coffee

while her friend's got his eyes closed.

Al, you did a good job. Now, Katie, you're going to try this.

You're going to do me one favour, you're going to go like this

-and you're going to just turn it over.

-Turn it over?

-Yep.

-OK.

Unsurprisingly to us, her cup's empty

but HE doesn't know that.

-Al, you give that a try.

-Man, I'm scared.

-It's OK, you can handle it.

-It feels really heavy.

No, you'll be all right.

Give it a try.

-Can I pour it behind me?

-No, come on!

-I can feel it in there.

-No, you'll be fine.

-All right.

I just bought this shirt.

Oh!

Like a magician would.

Brilliant. We were the ones being fooled all along.

Thanks, guys.

OK, it's time to showcase

another of the best magicians on the planet

as we look at...

Hey.

-Hi, guys.

-And Cyril seems to be on his holidays,

though that's meaningless when you're on 24-hour magic alert.

Can I show you something?

See? He can't stop himself.

Lobster mould here.

Follow me, follow me.

All right, so what did I make back there?

-Lobsters.

-A lobster.

Check this out.

Perfect. Can you hold that?

Hold that, OK?

Now I want you to watch this. Watch.

-Whoa!

-Whoa!

If he's been hiding that down his trunks,

he is one very brave magician.

THEY LAUGH AND GASP

If he can rustle up some lemon and a bib, I'll be very grateful.

Meanwhile, Troy's back in less sunny Britain

and has invited some big fans to witness his trick with a...

Oh, a big fan.

I'm a big fan of Michael Jackson.

OK, I've got him tattooed onto my arm.

I want you to do me a favour.

I want you to think of an icon like Michael Jackson.

-Someone whose...

-Oh...

Val Doonican?

Maybe Chas and Dave?

-Who is it?

-Marilyn Monroe.

Ah, yes, good one.

I'm trying to think of what she looks like.

You're trying to think what Marilyn Monroe looks like?

She looks like Marilyn Monroe, Troy!

Obviously this is really fast, but I want to try...

Still, Marilyn on a fan.

Presumably it's a fan in case some don't like it hot?

I'm trying to just go for this one blade here.

Can you see it's starting to take shape?

-I can't even see a blade.

-Can you not see it?

There's a black bit going around and that's it.

-A little, black dot whirring.

-Just a black bit.

I need to get this.

I need to get this slight...

Oh, don't get your nose caught, Troy!

Are you feeling confident?

Tension.

I know I've made a couple of mistakes but...

-No!

-Oh, my gosh!

No way!

Incredible trick.

Not only is Marilyn's face on that fan,

but the rest of it is blowing her skirt up.

From one blonde bombshell to another.

This is Scott and his glamorous assistant Muriel.

She's a real doll.

LAUGHTER

So, the dummy's in pieces and gets shoved in a box.

Now, at this stage of the trick, Scott needs a hand.

Oh, there it is.

LAUGHTER

But look, the dummy's come alive!

Which is quite handy, as it says here

they're real life husband and wife.

Still, an unconventional coupling

of man and animated mannequin,

but who am I to judge?

APPLAUSE

ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS

She's pretty happy to have escaped.

He only lets her out on Tuesdays.

Still, nice to see an early appearance there by Grayson Perry.

Enough of shouting, "Why are they doing that?"

Let's now ask, "How do they do that?"

And if you've been keeping up

with your Hollywood superhero blockbusters, this one's for you.

We're going to see if we can find someone who can lift Thor's hammer.

Ooh, it takes a lot of effort to lift a hammer.

Well, for me it does, I hate DIY.

Worthy.

This is a replica of the Mjolnir,

the weapon of choice of the mythical Norse god Thor.

But the only thing that looks THOR here

ith their hand ath they try to lift it. He-he.

Wait, I just...?

It just moved!

Oh, did it wobble? You're a little worthy, you're like Captain America.

You're a little worthy.

Something tells me she's not really trying.

Nice boots, though.

But in comes the God of Thunder himself and behold.

Now, this chap, here, reckons he knows what's going on.

LeBron James, straight from Akron, Ohio,

-and we're out here on this beach...

-Mm-hmm, really?

-Now, the reality is that only Thor can...

-Mm-hmm.

-Do you know what I'm saying?

-Mm-hmm.

-I got brawn though.

-Absolutely, yeah. Hmm.

Let's see what we got!

Supreme confidence.

Prepare to be impressed.

Use both hands!

-Bend your knees!

-Wait a minute.

Ah, well. Keep watching, mate,

and we'll show you how it was done later in the show.

Now, here's something you don't see every day,

in an item we like to call...

Being a magician can be stressful,

so here's the perfect invention

to help them keep calm before a show.

While ordinary people would just pop bubble wrap,

illusionist Eric Bust just has to go one step further.

Right, now all you've got to do, Eric, is roll it back up again.

Yeah? Not so stress relieving now, is it?

Yeah!

Over to the corner shop now,

with magician and part-time checkout guy Ben Hanlin.

That is £7.50 please.

-Thanks very much.

-It's all right.

There you go, there's your change.

Ben does his best to win sales assistant of the month

by really wowing this customer.

It's your change.

-For the... For the wine.

-I've just given you a tenner.

Yeah, and there's part of the tenner back, so the change.

Well, I can't really use that.

You can, you can spend that like money.

-Have you never done that before?

-No, never before.

Yeah, you can buy a choc with that... Chocolate bar.

Go on the bus with that. Get a few of them, put them together,

you've got an actual tenner.

-I'd prefer £4 change, if that's all right?

-Oh, you'd rather the coins?

-If that's OK, yeah.

All right, I tell you what, I've messed you about a bit,

you can have it on me if you want.

I'll just give you your money back.

How on Earth did you do that?

I think it's fair to say, "Not a happy shopper."

-Here you are.

-Thanks.

-Enjoy your wine.

-Thanks very much.

Now, when you think magic, you think tents.

Well, I do anyway.

I've had this problem.

Trying to find the peg holes

for the inner mesh is right pain -

especially in the dark.

Nope, he can't find them either.

I'd give up.

Well, come on, what's a few mosquito bites?

A bright lamp in a tent is not a good idea.

I did that once and the whole campsite saw my silhouette

eating an entire Toblerone in one sitting.

Lovely zipping technique.

Now look at this.

It's like a low rent James Bond title sequence,

camping-based.

The Man With The Golden Guy Rope?

Dr No... Dogs Allowed?

You Only Camp Once?

That's my trick.

Only arrive when you know the tent's already been put up.

Good timing, Madam!

Daniel Dovel's gone to Womad

and he doesn't want to miss Jah Wobble.

Who needs a yurt?

And here's a magical way to put on some headgear.

Argh!

Ooh, maybe he should have been wearing a hard hat!

Coming up,

Ben Hart shows us another trick in a hurry.

Look, he didn't even make it out of his PJs.

Derren Brown ruins a man's journey to work

by telling him he looks like David Mellor.

And in our big finish, not only do we show you a great trick,

but the most effective way of preventing lawn weeds.

They never come back.

But first, mentalist Haim Goldenberg

has gone to all the effort of setting up a stall on his hols.

He's using his amazing mind skills

to guess the birthdates of everyone he meets.

What is your birthday?

April 15th.

-Not August?

-No.

Ah.

You're lucky today.

-Ah, thank you.

-Thank you.

August 5th, '87?

-No.

-No?

July 6th, '87.

Hmm, I'm sorry.

So, he got it right,

but he pretends it's wrong.

Of course, he wasn't born yesterday

and knows that they won't resist taking a peek at what his guess was.

What is your birthday?

March 16th.

March 16th?

Not August?

-No.

-Oh, this is for you.

-Can I see what you wrote?

-If you ask.

You're kidding!

-What did you guess?

-You want to see?

-Yes, please.

-Why not?

-Ah.

May 25th, 1968.

'68? No way.

Be warned, guessing a woman's age

should only be undertaken by a skilled professional,

as it may result in physical injury.

Oh, ha-ha!

It's Jonathan Pendragon at the World Magic Awards.

SINISTER ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS

Oh, Jonathan, I've got Simon Cowell on the phone,

he wants to know why you're wearing his trousers.

Oh, look, a cat in a box.

It's like a showbiz trip to the vets.

Ooh! Ooh, now it's a big white dog!

Or is it a tiny polar bear?

He didn't fight the cat, though - that's a bit magic, too.

Oh, don't lie in there like that!

You don't know what the cat's done in there.

What's next? I'm thinking it's got to be a pony.

Oh, no, it's a woman!

And for an extra trick,

the back half of her top's disappeared.

To the Keith Chegwin of magic now.

Stevie Pink and Ghost Hanky.

Ghost Hanky.

If a ghost wants to blow its nose,

surely they'd use their own sheet.

Stevie is actually giving a running commentary as he does the trick

but you can't hear him as his suit is too loud.

If you've had a magic trick go wrong

or you've done brilliantly well, like Stevie here...

Well, anyway, if you've done brilliantly well, we want to see it.

Go to...

for more details.

How does he do that?

And by "that" I mean "wear that suit with such confidence."

Now, here's the VERY famous Derren Brown

actually talking to somebody on public transport.

No-one does that, surely!

Can I ask you what stop you're getting off at?

-Warren Street.

-Pardon?

-Warren Street.

Warren Street, excellent.

-What stop are you getting off at?

-Euston.

Euston. Excellent.

Yeah, the documentary is sort of about

how easily trains...

of thought can become confused

and you can have a piece of information

that you know that you should know

and, suddenly, it's just literally just gone from your mind, like that.

Sorry, what was the stop you were getting off at?

Look at me. What was the stop you were getting off at?

Does it say it up there?

What was it?

Right, what stop? Thinking about it now, what was it?

I can't remember.

-It's just... It's just gone.

-What is it?

What was the stop?

He hasn't felt that confused on London Underground

since there were planned engineering works at Cockfosters.

Do you remember why you're going there?

-To visit friends.

-To visit a friend.

And where is it? What stop?

I don't know.

I'm just trying to find it at the moment.

I can't remember.

-Is that weird?

-Yeah.

-Look, there it is. What is it?

-Euston.

Have you got it? What is it?

-Warren Street.

-Warren Street.

Archway.

Archway. Oh, this is Archway now!

You'd better go!

Oh, that'll be a tough excuse to use.

"Er, sorry I'm late, Derren Brown hypnotised me."

Um, sorry you missed that one.

Danny Cole now with the purse that holds the budget for this very show.

This is a coin purse

with an invisible bag

and anything I drop inside of it

will turn invisible also.

There's an object in there now.

Of course, you can't see it and,

even if you look down in there,

you shouldn't be able to see it.

It's not until I pour it out

that it becomes visible.

Now, when I drop objects inside the purse,

as long as I'm holding on to it,

you're going to be able to see it, OK?

But as soon as I let go...

Yeah, one of my friends has this problem.

Whenever we go out for dinner, her purse becomes invisible too.

With great power comes great responsibility,

so I guess we'd better reveal our superhero-themed...

You'll remember that no-one could lift

the God of Thunder's mighty weapon,

apart from this gentleman.

-Worthy.

-How was it done?

Well, it's all rather simple really.

Let's look inside the hammer.

Ah, yeah, you see,

that's the old capacitive touch sensor and Arduino set up.

Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And the solid state relay. Yeah, I knew that.

Absolutely essential.

Oh, oh, I hope his mum didn't need that microwave oven.

Oh, yeah, of course, yeah, batteries,

you shouldn't forget your batteries.

Ah, now, I understand that -

a fingerprint sensor, so only the inventor could pick it up.

I think he sums it up best here.

So, magnets! That's what...

Yeah, magnets that get turned off if you're me.

Exactly.

Bananas, they're lovely, aren't they?

So, why have one when you can have three?

After all, it is the magic number.

First up, Tumba Ping Pong

with a trick that will put a smile on anyone's face -

especially if the banana gets knocked in sideways.

Oh, don't eat the skin!

Secondly, we have this gentleman.

Hmm. Hmm?

He does like to put a lot of fruit into his kid's lunchbox, doesn't he?

Finally, for some reason, this chap wants rid of his bananas.

I think he's just invented a bananarang.

He's been anxiously waiting for over 20 minutes now,

so let's put him out of his misery.

Yes...

Well, it is past his bedtime.

I'm a terrible sleeper.

Some people count sheep to get to sleep,

I lay out dominoes.

And what you're looking at here

is a whole month without sleep.

Before we go any further, I need to call your attention to one thing

-and it's that envelope up there with the little window in.

-Yeah.

That's going to be very important later.

-Do not forget about it, whatever happens.

-OK.

Now, I've got a pack of cards.

I need you, if it's possible,

to choose a card for me.

Now they are all different and that's very important.

-What's your name?

-Lucky.

Lucky, would you touch the back of any card you'd like for me, Lucky?

-Just touch the back of any one, I don't mind.

-That one.

Take it out. Show the camera, but don't show me.

Whatever happens, do not show me.

I've also got a pen.

-Would you sign your name on the face of the card for me?

-OK.

Trying not to show me. I'm not looking, I promise.

-Yeah.

-You've done that?

-Mm-hmm.

OK, I'm going to take the pen back.

I'm also going to take the card back and put it right into the middle.

OK?

-Would you mix this half for me?

-OK.

We're not all judging the way that you shuffle.

That's how I shuffle. That's how I shuffle.

-And would you shuffle this half for me?

-OK.

-So, now your card is completely lost somewhere in the pack.

-Yeah.

-And there's nothing in my hands.

-Nothing.

-Pass the cards back to me.

Thank you. Thank you.

Now, I'm going to attempt to find your card

and I'm going to try and do it quicker

than it takes this chain of dominoes to all fall down.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Wow.

-So, I'm going to be up against the clock. Are you ready?

-Yeah.

Then I'm ready.

Three,

two,

one. OK, here we go, I'm going to try and find the card.

Is it here? This one, I think it's this one, yes?

Was that right? No, it would have your name on, hang on.

Wait, what about this? This one? Is it this one here? No.

Or that one? Hang on, wait, what about these? No. Hang on. Wait.

Oh! I know, it can't be any of these

-because, remember that envelope up there?

-Yeah.

-Remember that?

Come with me. Don't knock over the dominoes. Come this way quickly.

Come on. It couldn't be, could it?

That card that's been up there in the envelope all the time.

Come this way, come this way. Follow me, follow me.

Watch your step, watch your step. Stand here, stand here for me.

Look, see this one, here?

This card inside the envelope?

Look, I think it is.

Look, turn it over for me,

-I don't even want to look. Yes!

-THEY GASP

Now it all makes sense.

Now I know why I can't sleep because look,

I always knew you'd choose the seven of diamonds.

And I managed to beat it.

It is mine as well.

Cables, cables, cables.

I didn't know they had ten-footers. That's great.

Supreme magic prankster Michael Carbonaro now,

who's got a part-time Saturday job

to supplement his successful prime time US Cable TV career.

The sticker speakers.

They're taking over the whole market,

so everything will be wireless. Yeah.

-You seen those things work?

-No, I haven't.

Oh, my gosh, we... I don't know how they do it actually.

It's just on a sticker.

Like, the whole component's just like a...

-That's the speaker.

-That's the speaker.

Yeah, and it will pick up the closest, like, playing...

-And how's the quality?

-Uh, it's like this.

MUSIC PLAYS

Yeah? You could amp it up with something, though,

-if you put it on something like...

-MUSIC GETS LOUDER

-It'll, like, pick up the resonance of something.

-It's a big difference.

It is a big difference.

You can use sticker speakers anywhere,

but for the best effect, stick them on regular speakers.

-Huh?

-Are these for sale now?

-Yeah.

-How much are they?

They're 25 cents each.

-You're kidding me?!

-No.

Yeah.

-I want to buy some.

-You want to buy them?

-Yeah.

-OK.

One press starts it on,

one press starts it off.

Three clicks will change to the next station.

HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYS

-Sometimes you have to...

-# Great big butt

# Great big butt

# Great big butt... #

This one got glitched.

There, hold on.

MUSIC GETS LOUDER

One second, sorry about that. One second. Give me one second.

He looks pretty embarrassed there.

And so he should - sleeveless vest AND sandals.

Ever wondered what it's like to be an illusionist?

Well, now's the chance to find out.

For the next 57 seconds...

Here we are. We've got our cards.

Go on, go on, pick one.

That's lovely.

Ooh! Crikey, did I eat all of that on my own?

We good? OK, you can place that card right on top.

-Ah, I see, she's memorised the card.

-A little shuffle.

Now, normally, I would find the card -

but tonight, I'm going to have you be the magician.

-You're going to...

-Hang on, I thought it was us.

All you have to do is tap on the top.

Believe it or not, that's going to bring your card

right to the top of the deck, kind of like that.

Little hand clap there. I thank you.

-Once or twice?

-Once.

So, you've got to do a double tap. Let's try...

Cor, I've never been able to shuffle before. This is fun.

Double tap. Excellent.

That should bring your card right to the top of the deck.

Whoa, impressed even myself there.

Did you see that? Once more, then.

Tap on the top. That should bring it up.

Like that.

I enjoyed that. And next week,

we'll do it all again with you as the back of a pantomime horse.

Now to end the show,

over to Irish magician Keith Barry for our big finish.

This is going to be dynamite.

What we're about to use is a couple of sticks of dynamite today.

Told you.

Here's the catch.

This stick of dynamite, right here, is NOT a real stick of dynamite.

-Although, it looks the exact same as these other five, agreed?

-Yes, yes.

What we're going to do is take this stick

and mix it amongst these other five.

Ooh, careful.

-So, now, you probably don't know which one is the fake, do you?

-No.

OK, tie this blindfold onto me.

Do a double knot so it doesn't come off.

Excellent job.

Now, give them a good mix up

and then line them all up.

Keith's got an audience member mixing volatile explosives,

who's probably thinking, "Hmm, I wish I'd chosen to watch the trick

"that just has a load of dominoes falling over."

-OK.

-Now I want you to take my right hand...

..and place it over the outer most stick

and tell me when we're over it.

-Am I over it?

-Yes.

OK, place it on the next one.

OK, for some reason I'm getting a feeling

that the fake one could be that one.

Not sure, but it could...

Can you just let me grab a hold of it?

I'm not sure, take my left hand

and place it over the outermost one out here.

OK, the next one.

Now go back.

OK, give me that one.

I think it might be one of these two.

Yeah, now's not the time to be doubtful, Keith.

David, can you lead me up somewhere safe away from all these people?

-OK.

-So, he thinks one of these two sticks isn't real dynamite,

but has he got it right?

Dave leads explosive-clutching Keith away from the crowd for safety

to a position about six feet away,

so that'll be fine(!)

Sensibly, the crowd are taking the best precautions -

sticking their fingers in their ears.

The rejected dynamite has been planted and lit,

and Keith still hasn't worked out if one of the sticks in his hands

is the dummy.

Well, this is a good way to find out.

This really is very dangerous stuff,

so please don't copy this at home with anything explosive -

especially if you live near me.

He still looks confused. Come on, Keith!

Ah, hurray, he's thrown away an exploder

but he still doesn't know if the other stick is the dummy.

And there goes the others.

He's done it!

And let's face it, if he hadn't,

that would've been a really weird day out for all those people.

Well, the audience are suitably impressed,

the caravan club members in the next field aren't too happy.

In fact, after a complaint,

Keith is now helping police with their enquiries.

That's all for now.

I'm off to sell my camping James Bond ideas to the Broccoli family.

The Spy Who Towed Me,

Live And Let Down The Airbed,

Never Say Backpacking Again,

From The New Forest With Love...