Derren Brown will present a new ten-part BBC Radio 4 series exploring the life and legacy of Harry Houdini.
How Houdini Made Magic will air across two weeks from 19 October as part of Radio 4’s The History Podcast feed, with all ten episodes also released as a boxset on BBC Sounds on the same day.
The series marks 100 years since Houdini’s death and looks beyond his escape acts to examine how he used publicity, reinvention and the media to become one of the world’s most recognisable performers.
Derren has appeared on Radio 4 several times previously, including presenting an episode of Chain Reaction in 2012 and appearing on Desert Island Discs and Saturday Live.
Across the series, he will explore Houdini’s different roles as a performer, self-publicist, innovator and sceptic, with contributions from historians, biographers and magicians.
Derren said: “Most people know Houdini as the man who escaped from handcuffs and water tanks, but the more deeply I explored his life, the more fascinating he became.
“He wasn’t simply a magician or escapologist. He reinvented himself again and again, understood publicity better than almost anyone who came before him, and seemed to instinctively grasp many of the techniques that underpin modern fame.”
The story begins with Houdini’s childhood as Erik Weisz, a Hungarian immigrant growing up in poverty in America, before following his transformation into Harry Houdini.
The programme is produced by Strawberry Blonde for the BBC, with Calum McCrae as producer and Sophie Ellis as Executive Producer.
