Tricky TV

Tricky TV
Starring	Stephen Mulhern
No. of series	3 (Series 1: 10 x 30' Series 2: 13 x 30' Series 3: 20 x 25)
No. of episodes	43
Production
Producer(s)	The Foundation
Running time	less than 30 minutes
Release
Original network	ITV Network (UK) Cartoon Network Philippines (Philippines) Super RTL (Germany) MBC 3 (Arab League) Stöð 2 (Iceland) NRK Super (Norway) Vrak.TV (Canada) ATV World (Hong Kong)
Original release	5 September 2005 – 15 October 2010
Chronology
Preceded by	The Quick Trick Show

Tricky TV is a fast paced modern magic show for CITV. Presented by children's presenter and magician Stephen Mulhern, the show features magic on the street, "wicked wind-ups", illusions, and teaches a number of tricks step-by-step.

Synopsis

The show featured magic tricks ranging from making a tank vanish to making an entire football team appear. The "wicked wind-ups" included a gorilla that came to life and a cinema with exploding popcorn and unstoppable drinks machines. Classic con tricks were also exposed in "Beat the Cheat". Each show usually closed with a performance of a classic "grand illusion", such as Sawing a Woman in Half.

In Series 1, Mulhern was joined each week by one or more special guest celebrities, who often took part in a number of tricks during the show, and also usually participated in the show's closing illusion. In Series 2, the show format changed slightly, and the different special guests were replaced by Mulhern's regular co-presenter on Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown, Holly Willoughby, who acted as his assistant in the closing illusions. Then in series 3, the format is dramatically redesigned as Stephen Mulhern presents more in the background and allows a 'Tricky Team' of young magicians to perform the illusions.

Season 1

.

Season 1 consisted of ten episodes, and ran from September 2005 to November 2005.

Episode 1

• Original air date: 5 September 2005.
• Special guest: Jennifer Ellison.
• A full-sized model gorilla comes to life, Stephen makes a dream come true for a class of schoolkids - by causing their teachers to vanish. Jennifer Ellison is amazed by a card trick, and then cut into three in the "Zigzag Girl".

Episode 2

• Original air date: 12 September 2005.
• In this episode, Stephen Mulhern attempts to make a tank disappear, a cookery class gets out of hand, a classic confidence trick is explained in Beat the Cheat and a schoolboy called Josh is flattened after being put through a pair of rollers in an illusion called the wringer. When he is restored and asked how it felt he told Stephen that "being flattened hurt".

Episode 3

• Original air date: 19 September 2005.
• Special guest:

Episode 4

• Original air date: 26 September 2005.
• Special guest: The Cheeky Girls.
• In this episode, the Cheeky Girls help Stephen perform a trick with playing cards - by sitting on them. Plus Stephen demonstrates a trick where a handkerchief turns into an egg with a touch of magic. Finally, the Cheeky Girls help Stephen with another trick where he saws them both in half and switches their lower halves.

Episode 5

• Original air date: 3 October 2005.
• Special guest: Bradley Walsh.
• In this episode, Stephen amazes actor Bradley Walsh with a football-themed card trick and tries to turn an old family car into something much classier. Plus, the sight of a harmless plastic spider alarms members of the public.

Episode 6

• Original air date: 10 October 2005.
• Special guest: Rachel Stevens.
• In this episode, magical mayhem abounds on a school trip to the cinema, and singer Rachel Stevens is amazed when Stephen performs a mind-boggling trick with her expensive ring, and then saws her in half while she's standing up. Plus, Stephen produces a fridge out of nowhere and encounters the Table of Death, where he has to escape from his shackles before a bed of sharp spikes falls and impales him.

Episode 7

• Original air date: 17 October 2005.
• Special guest: Jack Osbourne.
• In this episode, Stephen presents a baffling trick with a box of tissues and shows the secret of card prediction, while guest Jack Osbourne receives some unusual help to overcome his jet-lag.

Episode 8

• Original air date: 24 October 2005.
• Special guest: Joe Pasquale.
• In this episode, comedian Joe Pasquale plays a version of Russian roulette, and Stephen tries to turn a pack of cub scouts into brownies.

Episode 9

• Original air date: 31 October 2005.
• Special guest: Peter Andre.
• Stephen makes a sleeping person levitate, and singer Peter Andre receives a shock when the presenter attempts a trick using a fearsome fork.

Episode 10

• Original air date: 7 November 2005.
• Special guest: Mischa Barton.
• In this episode, Stephen teaches special guest Mischa Barton a trick called "The Infected Ear". In this trick, she uses a sewing needle to thread a length of dental floss through the hole in her pierced ear. Having tied it in a knot to form a continuous loop passing through and underneath her earlobe, she pulls it straight through her lobe without ripping it. Mischa also helps Stephen with another trick where he saws her into three and removes her middle.

Season 2

.

Season 2 ran from 10 March – 2 June 2006

Episode 1

• Original air date: 10 March 2006.

Episode 2

• Original air date: 17 March 2006.
• Special guest:

Episode 3

• Original air date: 24 March 2006.
• Special guest: David Beckham.
• In this episode, Stephen makes Holly’s wedding ring vanish from inside her closed hand and then reappear inside a rose. He also brings a David Beckham waxwork to life, and then makes Holly disappear while she's floating in mid-air.

Episode 4

• Original air date: 31 March 2006.
• In "Heads Off", Stephen removes Holly's head and places it on a table on the opposite side of the stage.

Episode 5

• Original air date: 7 April 2006.
• In this episode, Stephen saws Holly in half in an illusion called Clearly Impossible.

Episode 6

• Original air date: 14 April 2006.
• Stephen locks Holly in a tall upright box and pushes a rack of long fluorescent light-bulbs through her in an illusion called "Neon Nightlife".

Episode 7

• Original air date: 21 April 2006.
• In "The Disembodied Princess", Stephen makes Holly's body disappear, leaving just her head and legs.

Episode 8

• Original air date: 28 April 2006.
• In this episode, Stephen uses a small tree house for a Big Trick and teaches magic in the Secret Circle. He also stretches and squashes Holly to impossible sizes in "The Stretcher".

Episode 9

• Original air date: 5 May 2006.
• Stephen introduces Holly to his idea of "Modern Art" when he saws her in half while she's standing up.

Episode 10

• Original air date: 12 May 2006.
• Stephen attends a school in Denbigh and puts a schoolgirl called Sophie through an illusion called the Wringer where she is flattened. Holly helps Stephen with an illusion called "Through the Eye of a Needle", where she passes from one barrel to another through a solid piece of wood and four steel bars.

Episode 11

• Original air date: 19 May 2006.
• In this episode's closing illusion, Stephen uses a guillotine to apparently behead Holly.

Episode 12

• Original air date: 26 May 2006.
• Stephen surprises a mother with some conjuring, and takes to the high seas for an illusion with pirates. Plus, magic tips for viewers in the Secret Circle, and Holly being cut into nine in an illusion called "The Slicer".

Episode 13

• Original air date: 2 June 2006.
• In "Girl Through Glass", Stephen pushes Holly through a solid pane of glass, and also cuts her in half.

Season 3

.

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

Episode 1

• Original air date: 14 September 2010.

Episode 2

• Original air date: 15 September 2010.

Episode 3

• Original air date: 16 September 2010.

Episode 4

• Original air date: 17 September 2010.

Episode 5

• Original air date: 21 September 2010.

Episode 6

• Original air date: 22 September 2010.

Episode 7

• Original air date: 23 September 2010.

Episode 8

• Original air date: 24 September 2010.

Episode 9

• Original air date: 28 September 2010.

Episode 10

• Original air date: 29 September 2010.

Episode 11

• Original air date: 30 September 2010.

Episode 12

• Original air date: 1 October 2010.

Episode 13

• Original air date: 5 October 2010.

Episode 14

• Original air date: 6 October 2010.

Episode 15

• Original air date: 7 October 2010.

Episode 16

• Original air date: 8 October 2010.

Episode 17

• Original air date: 12 October 2010.

Episode 18

• Original air date: 13 October 2010.

Episode 19

• Original air date: 14 October 2010.

Episode 20

• Original air date: 15 October 2010.

Tricky Quickies

Tricky Quickies is a cut down version of the show which has a duration of 5 minutes. Series 1, 10 editions. Series 2, 15 editions.

Production

The show is produced by The Foundation, the same company that makes Finger Tips, Globo Loco and Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown which also starred Stephen.

Tricky TV was first broadcast in the 4pm slot on ITV from 5 September 2005. Creative consultant was Paul Andrews (Magician). The show's executive producer was Vanessa Hill for The Foundation. Series 2 was produced by Ian France and directed by Paul Andrews (Magician), The third series was co-produced written and directed by Paul Andrews (Magician) and has sold to over 100 countries.

Series Guide

Series	Premiere	Last in series	Episodes
1	5 September 2005	13 November 2005	10
2	10 March 2006	2 June 2006	13
3	14 September 2010	15 October 2010	20

The Quick Trick Show

The Quick Trick Show was a British children's television series. It was presented by Stephen Mulhern, and like its sister show Tricky TV, the show featured magic tricks, "wicked wind-ups", illusions, and taught a number of tricks step-by-step. Five series in total were produced and aired on CITV between 1999 and 2002.

Series Guide

Series	Premiere	Last in series	Episodes
1	13 April 1999	18 May 1999	6
2	23 February 2000	5 April 2000	7
3	27 February 2001	20 March 2001	13
4	24 September 2001	11 October 2001	13
5	16 October 2002	18 December 2002	10

International

Tricky TV was aired in the Philippines on Cartoon Network, in Germany on Super RTL, in the Arab World on MBC 3, in Iceland on Stöð 2, in Norway on NRK Super, in Canada on VRAK.TV and in Hong Kong on ATV World.

External links

• Tricky TV at itv.com

References