''Tricky TV'' is a British television show that aired on

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

from 2005 to 2010, presented by magician

Stephen Mulhern Stephen Daniel Mulhern (born 4 April 1977) is an English television presenter, entertainer, magician and comedian. He began his career at CITV presenting the children’s television shows '' Finger Tips'' (2001–2004) and '' Tricky TV'' (2005� ...

. The show featured street magic, pranks, illusions, and step-by-step how-to guides for magic tricks.

Format

The show featured magic tricks such as making a tank vanish or making an entire football team appear. The "wicked wind-ups" segment included a gorilla that came to life, a cinema with exploding popcorn, and unstoppable drinks machines. "Beat the Cheat" exposed classic confidence tricks. Each show usually closed with a performance of a classic "grand illusion", such as

sawing a woman in half Sawing a woman in half is a generic name for a number of stage magic tricks in which a person (traditionally a female assistant) is apparently cut or divided into two (or more) pieces. History There remains a debate about the origin of sawing ...

In Series 1 and 2, each episode featured one or more special guest celebrities, who often took part in a number of tricks during the show, and sometimes participated in the show's closing illusion. In series 3, the format was redesigned with Mulhern presenting and a 'Tricky Team' of young magicians performing the illusions.

Production

''Tricky TV'' was first broadcast in the 4pm slot on ITV from 5 September 2005. The show was produced by The Foundation, the same company that produced '' Finger Tips'', '' Globo Loco'' and '' Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown'', which also starred Stephen Mulhern. The show featured frequent appearances by celebrities, and used glamour models and bodybuilders as magician's assistants. It was also noted for featuring viewers or their mothers in tricks. The creative consultant was Paul Andrews. The show's executive producer was Vanessa Hill for The Foundation. Series 2 was produced by Ian France and directed by Paul Andrews (magician). Series 3 was co-produced, written and directed by Paul Andrews.

Transmissions

Episodes

Series 1

Series 1 consisted of ten episodes, and ran from 5 September 2005 to 7 November 2005.

Series 2

Series 2 ran from 10 March – 2 June 2006

Series 3

Series 3 consisted of twenty episodes, and ran from 14 September – 15 October 2010. Episodes 1-14 were presented by Stephen Williams.

Tricky Quickies

Tricky Quickies was a cut-down version of the show with a duration of five minutes. Series 1 had 10 episodes, while series 2 had 15 episodes.

''The Quick Trick Show''

''The Quick Trick Show'' was the predecessor to ''Tricky TV'', also presented by Mulhern, and also featuring magic tricks, "wicked wind-ups", illusions, and step-by-step guides to tricks. Five series were produced and aired on CITV between 1999 and 2002.

Series Guide

International broadcasts

Tricky TV was aired in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

on Cartoon Network Asia, in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Super RTL Super RTL is a German free-to-air television network owned by RTL Deutschland. The channel originally launched in 1995 as a joint venture between RTL Group predecessor company CLT-UFA and Disney's Buena Vista International Television Investment ...

, in the

Arab World The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

on MBC 4, MBC Action,

MBC+ Variety MBC Persia (Persian: ام بی سی پرشیا) is a free-to-air television channel owned by the media conglomerate MBC Group that shows movies and television series. Programs are subtitled in Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things f ...

Space Power TV Space Power (SPTV) (Arabic: سبيس باور or سبيسباور) is a former teens-adults Arab TV channel & a still active programming block featuring anime programs targeted at the teens & adults audience, ages 13 to 19. Based in Damascus, Syr ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on MBC Persia,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Stöð 2 Stöð 2, literally Station 2, was an Icelandic subscription television channel. Founded in 1986, it was the first privately owned television station in Iceland following the lifting of the state monopoly on television broadcasting. Sister chan ...

, in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

NRK Super NRK Super is a Norwegian TV (for children) and radio channel aimed at small children, run by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The TV channel is broadcast on the digital terrestrial network, officially from 06:30 to 19:30 (7:30pm), and was ...

, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

VRAK.TV Vrak (stylized as VRΔK) was a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcast live-action programming aimed at 13-to-35 age group audiences. Launched in 1988 as Le Canal Fa ...

, in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

ATV World ATV World, was one of two free-to-air Hong Kong English, English language television channels in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival TVB Pearl. Its sister station, ATV Home, broadcast in the Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese language. It ...

and in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Entertainment units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years old ...

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tricky Tv 2005 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings British television magic series ITV (TV network) original programming Television series by Banijay