Derren Brown has his mind on the job

MANY of those who have seen him on TV, or in his live shows, know that Derren Brown is an utterly baffling talent. His brand of psychological illusion uses elements of magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship.

Whether he appears to be reading people's minds, contacting the dead, guessing people's dreams, or telling them their detailed medical history just by looking at them (as he does in his TV special Derren Brown: Messiah) often the results seem to defy logic.

The illusionist shot to fame in 1999 when Channel 4 asked him to put a TV show together. This resulted in the immensely successful Derren Brown: Mind Control being screened in December 2000 to be followed by Derren Brown: Mind Control 2 and 3.

He later caused an international furore when he played Russian roulette on National TV in October 2003.

Yet what's refreshing about Brown is his open and honest approach to what he does.

He cheerfully reveals that he can't read people's minds or commune with the afterlife his skill is to make it look like he can.

His latest two TV specials, in autumn last year and at the start of this year, set about exposing the more fraudulent aspects of mysticism and spirituality.

The first, Sance, was an adrenaline-fuelled hour of excitement and terror which ultimately showed how age-old techniques used by 19th-century mediums could still work on a sophisticated 21st-century audience.

The second, Messiah, was an investigation into how Brown could receive endorsements from influential mystics, spiritualists and religious leaders in America, despite having no genuine abilities in those areas at all.

The result was a thought-provoking and disturbing indication of how we can be hoodwinked into accepting impostors as genuine leaders.

But what has driven him in this direction why the conscientious crusade?

"It's important to me to look at these areas," he explains.

"Encouraging people to question things is valuable. I work in areas which are allied to paranormal areas, and I know a lot about how they work and the techniques people use. And when you know that, it blows the lid off a lot of the mystery and apparent phenomena around them. It feels wrong not to use my position to at least raise some of those issues.

"People are encouraged to make life decisions by psychics and similar people. There are the most despicable things that go on. I remember reading a story about a guy and this is in England, and no more than a couple of years ago.

"He'd gone to see a psychic, and was told there was a curse on his family and in order to release the curse, he had to bring with him the following week £5,000 and burn it If he didn't do that, either he or his son would die.

"The scam is quite a common one the money is put in an envelope, and apparently burnt, but of course the psychic' secretly switches the envelope and burns an envelope full of newspaper.

"What happened was the guy went away and knew he couldn't raise £5,000 but didn't want his son to die; so he killed himself."

Derren's conscience can cause him problems, as with some of the scenes from Messiah. He admits he was deeply uncomfortable recording some scenes, such as pretending to be in contact with a woman's dead mother. It sounds obvious enough but in order to show how easy it was to convince people he was a medium, he had to act like one. It meant fooling an audience at a spiritualist meeting.

"It was an enormously sensitive issue as to how those people were going to be told about the show.

"We contacted them afterwards and in time everything was explained to them so it was completely understood. We wanted to make sure they were completely happy, and knew they weren't being made fun of. As it turned out, all of them were amazed and intrigued by the idea of the show, which was great.

It's not surprising they were amazed. Brown did seem able to tell people astonishing facts about their own lives and loved ones who had passed on. He explains that such a belief stands up to little scrutiny.

"People find ways of making what the medium is saying fit their own experience. If you go back and watch those bits again and again, you begin to realise I'm not quite doing anything as amazing as you think the first time you watch it.

"It's a very common technique which gets used by mediums. You use anything you can, think on your feet, and talk in a way that's often very ambiguous (although it sounds very specific) and allows you to fork off in different directions. It's all about creating the illusion that you know things before they said them."

But there are some people who react badly, he concedes.

"There is a guy in the new series we've just finished filming who nearly hit me. I was in Portmerion, where they filmed The Prisoner. We were having a staring competition and as I'm staring at the participants, I'm doing things to make them feel sick or troubled. This guy nearly went for me. I just watched it today in the edit it's very funny. I calmed him down really quickly. That's the closest I've ever got to being hit. Normally people are very happy with the whole experience."

Derren's new series of Trick of the Mind began on Channel 4 last month. Among the celebrity guests appearing are Simon Pegg, husband and wife Jonathan Ross and Jane Goldman, Mo Mowlan and author Iain Banks.

And can we expect any risky business with his audiences in the current tour?

He says: "I can't reveal any specific details but yes, there'll be plenty of thought-provoking moments I hope. It's all new material, with plenty of audience participation. The interaction with a live audience is why I love touring so much.

I spend eight months of the year making TV shows and four months is taken up touring.

It's blissful; switching from TV to doing the tour stuff. I genuinely prefer being out in the theatres as a performer that's so much more fun, and so much more rewarding. It's a real pleasure to go out and do it every night, to change it slightly, improve it, fine tune it."

But how does he get his practice in, and are his friends his guinea pigs?

He says: "Occasionally, yeah, if I'm working on something new. I'll bother them with it until I can get it working. Occasionally I'll get stopped by someone in the street who wants me to do something on them, which can be quite handy if I'm working on something new."

But it does get tedious at times he explains. "Sometimes, if I'm out at a dinner party, my heart does drop a little bit if the person sitting next to me wants me to perform all evening. But I can understand their viewpoint. If I was sat next to Eddie Izzard, I'd hope he'd be constantly hysterical."

Derren show will be coming to the Alban Arena in St Albans on May 11 and it will be at the West End for a limited run in June. For more details, visit www.derrenbrown.co.uk