Killer Magic
Synopsis
Competitive magic where the loser might get seriously hurt.
Five young magicians are given a theme for their tricks. One by one, the magicians will make their performance, and be judged by their peers. The performer with the lowest total will perform a forfeit, taking part in a trick that has resulted in serious injury or death.
Much of the programme is similar to Come Dine with Me - the performers get a few minutes to show their abilities, to hide a card in the body of a fish, or to boil an egg while it's in one's underwear. Then they're judged by other performers, and the whole event is subject to a sarcastic voiceover (BBC3 regular Matt Edmondson).
The pilot, which aired on April Fools' Day, featured five magicians, and we felt that it moved so quickly as to be superficial. The finale had a strange sense of anticlimax: if someone had been killed, or badly hurt, would we really be seeing it on telly?
Inventor
Anthony Owen, who is also the executive producer