''The Magicians'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

, first broadcast throughout January 2011 on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. The show features magicians performing a number of magic tricks with guest celebrities, to decide which pair will face a forfeit trick at the end of the episode. In the first series, this was decided through audience participation; however, for the second series, a phone vote was introduced. The first series was hosted by

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Le ...

, and featured magicians Luis de Matos, Barry and Stuart and Chris Korn. At the end of series 1, Luis de Matos was deemed series champion. The second series, which began airing in January 2012, is hosted by

Darren McMullen Darren McMullen (born 10 February 1982) is a Scottish-Australian television and radio presenter and personality, music journalist and music critic. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and immigrated with his family to Australia at the age of 12. H ...

, and replaces magicians de Matos and Korn with Jason Latimer and

Pete Firman Peter "Pete" Firman (born 26 April 1980) is an English magician, comedian and television presenter. He has appeared in magic shows on BBC1, ITV, Channel 4, Five, and Sky1. He was also the presenter of two game shows on CBBC: ''Stake Out' ...

. While the first series was completely pre-recorded, the second series was broadcast live on Saturday nights, with the exception of the pre-recorded "Street Magic" and "Location Grand Illusion" segments. Thus, ''The Magicians'' became the first live magic programme to be broadcast on the BBC in over 30 years. At the end of series 2 Jason Latimer was deemed series champion by the UK viewers. It was announced on 28 June 2012 that ''The Magicians'' had been axed.

Format

Each episode features three magicians, each of whom are paired with a different celebrity. They must then perform a series of tricks to decide which pair will face a forfeit trick at the end of the episode. In series one, the tricks were as follows: * Grand Illusion – The pair perform a grand illusion in front of the audience, inspired by the episode's set theme. * Street Magic – The pair go out on to the streets to perform in front of the general public. * Celebrity's Choice – The pair perform a trick that the celebrity has always wanted to perform. In series two, the tricks were as follows: * Grand Illusion – Same as series one, however, this time it is performed live. * Street Magic – Same as series one. * Close Up Magic – The pair perform a simple trick live in amongst the audience, usually involving cards. * Location Grand Illusion – The pair perform a grand illusion in a similar fashion to their street magic. The order in which each of the magicians perform, and the order in which each of the tricks is done, changes from show to show. In series one, each episode had a specific theme, however, in series two, there were no themes. The second series also featured guest performances from another magician whilst the phone votes were being counted. In the first series, after all nine performances, members of the

studio audience A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...

voted for their favourite magician-celebrity partnership using an

audience response Audience response is a type of interaction associated with the use of audience response systems, to create interactivity between a presenter and its audience. Systems for co-located audiences combine wireless hardware with presentation software, a ...

system. In the second series, viewers could vote for their favourite acts via telephone. The act with the most votes were declared the winners, and the act with the fewest votes had to then attempt the forfeit trick. In the first series, the forfeit trick was explained to the magician, but not the celebrity. In the second series, the forfeit was explained to all three celebrities and magicians before the show went on air.

Episode list

International adaptations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Magicians, The 2011 British television series debuts 2012 British television series endings BBC Television shows English-language television shows British television magic series