Channel 4 Slammed for 'Robbery' Show
The Daily Record, 29th December 2005
Channel 4 were accused yesterday of sinking to an astonishing new low after it was revealed that they will screen a programme featuring a group of hypnotised businessmen carrying out what they believe to be a real armed robbery.
The programme, The Heist, will be shown on Channel four on January 4, and has been labelled illusionist Derren Brown's most outrageous stunt yet.
It even involved using real police officers to monitor the filming, leading to accusations of wasting officers' time and taxpayers' money.
The Heist follows other controversial projects by the celebrity magician, which included members of the public playing Russian Roulette live on TV and another programme featuring a seance.
Viewers of The Heist will see a group of business managers attending what they believe to be a genuine training sminar. But when they arrive, Brown uses hypnosis to persuade them to hold up a security van at gunpoint - and steal £100,000.
The businessmen believe the security guards involved in the robbery are real, although they are played by actors.
Brown revealed real police officers were also taken off their normal duties to provide a security cordon during filming in case anything went wrong.
It is not know where it was filmed or which police force provided the officers.
Yesterday critics attacked Brown and Channel Four for 'glamourising crime'.
John Beyer, chairman of viewers' watchdog Mediawatch UK said: "This is a waste of public money and a valuable waste of police officers' time."
"Anybody else carrying out a stunt of this type would be charged with wasting police time - and rightly so."
"It is not something that Channel Four should be commissioning."
"If Derren Brown wants to make programmes involving magic, then he should stick to that - not silly stunts glamourising crime."
Speaking about his programme, Brown claimed that he was not hypnotising the businessmen - just 'mentally massaging' them instead.
He said: "You can't make someone do something they don't want to, so the challenge is to mentally 'massage' these people so much that they'll make the decision to hold up an armoured van."
"I won't tell them to do it, they'll think it's their idea."
Derren Brown: The Heist
Radio Times, 31st December 2005
That Derren Brown. He's a cheeky monkey. He cons us into thinking there's a fair chance he might blow his brains out on live TV with his Russian roulette stunt, then he tries to persuade American religious leaders that he's the new Messiah. Now, in The Heist, Brown convinces a group of middle managers to take part in an armed robbery.
As ever with the prodigiously talented Brown, it all sounds very dubious. Of course, it's not a real armed robbery, though the participants don't know that. But is it trivialising a particularly vicious crime that can psychologically mark its victims for life? As no preview tapes were available, we shall have to see. Certainly, the interest lies in Brown's remarkable abilities and doubtless the words "how on earth did he do that?" will frequently pass your lips as, in the guise of a motivational speaker, he plants the seeds of criminality in the minds of his audience.
The Heist
Zoo, 30th December 2005
Q: In tonight's one-off special you're trying to get well-behaved pen-pushers to pull off an armed robbery. What's the trick? Hypnosis?
A: Hypnosis doesn't exist - The Heist just works on people's natural suggestibility. Clearly, if a hypnotist could make someone steal £100k just by telling them to, I suspect they wouldn't bother doing shows in pubs or dodgy Spanish holiday resorts.
Q: What are your predictions for 2006, all-seeing one?
A: My bathroom will be re-done and I'll buy a lot of shit off eBay.
Q: Spooky. Could you use your mental techniques to help England win the World Cup?
A: I know nothing about football. But a famous psychic once asked everyone to touch an orange spot on the TV screen to make England win Euro '96. They got knocked out by Germany. Then he worked for Reading, assisting them with his metaphysical prowess, but the team got relegated. The same guy appeared on GMTV in 1999 and said he'd help Scotland beat England. Result: 2-0 to England. In 2002 he started working closely with Exeter, who again got relegated. So maybe I shouldn't get involved.
Q: In case Uri Geller's reading this and wants to challenge you to a fight: who'd win?
A: Me. We'd mentally zap each other from opposite corners of the room, but his powers would be inferior due to the age difference. He's 78 and I'm 26. And I'd keep calling him a bender, which he doesn't like. So eventually his head would explode - i'm imagining quite messily - and then McKenna would be forced to take his place. I'd pull his jumper over his head before he had time to ask me to stick my hands together, so he'd run around unable to see while I chased him, flicking his gooch with a wet towel. I'd do the same to Blaine and any of them. Daniel Radcliffe was well. Bring it on.