New U.K. TV Series with Benjamin Earl

[Matthew Field]

Ben Earl is a very talented and creative UK magician, and he's got a new TV series on Channel 4 (that's U.K.) starting next Friday, April 26, at 9 PM.

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/ben-earl-trick-artist

Matt Field

[CraigMitchell]

There's a whole lot of unhappy campers here. According to the posts, multiple people paid but never received their goods ... hopefully Ben resolves the issue.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view ... &forum=110

[IrishMagicNews]

As far as I am aware those outside the Uk (like I am in Dublin) can watch these on 4OD (Channel 4 On Demand)

I know it certainly worked for me when I viewed some of Derren's shows after the fact. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derr ... ecials/4od

Just a heads up.

[Tom Moore]

Visually interesting, some quirky new framings and a refreshingly modern take on how a magic show should be.....

BUT terrible, excessive editing and camera work that make it blindingly obvious that vast amounts of dirty work was happening off-camera and that elements were being staged just for the camera absolutely ruined the show. Loads of stuff (too obviously) took place off camera that didn't need to, that could have happened in-vision(or at least much more cleanly) but because they didn't they dramatically diminished the effect for the TV audience. For example a cute idea for a cards-across that actually took 15 mins so had to be edited down so much we had to entirely trust the 2 spectators really had kept their hands clasped tightly together around the cards even though they'd been blindfolded, locked in cars and taken part in a car-chase for 10 mins with stuntmen. The central premise of the show was that the TV audience had to always entirely "believe" the on-screen spectators insistence that magic had taken place, even when the editing made it quite clear that dodgy stuff had taken place.

Comments from lay audiences on various public forums sum it up perfectly

"i'd rather we'd seen more of the slight of hand stuff and not all the camera tricks"

It's a shame as they could have done it much more "legitimately" without compromising the aesthetic and writing choices they'd made.

[Richard Stokes]

I liked the bit when Ben regurgitated the shredded bank statement.

[CraigMitchell]

Cue @mrgoat ... for those outside the UK - the special is available on Youtube for viewing.

[mrgoat]

It's not really worth pirating craig, but god to see you are consistent with your disregard for IP

[AJM]

I won't be watching any of it, on TV or otherwise, until the little squirt coughs up my copy of Less is More 2, which I understand we were all due to have received by the end of last week at the latest.

Cheers

Andrew

[Matthew Field]

"Less is More 2" arrived in my mailbox today. It looks very interesting, as I find all of Ben's material.

Matt Field

[AJM]

Yes , mine appeared today in the mail following a chaser from me in the last week or so.

He won't get any further business from me.

Andrew