ITV Searches for The Next Great Magician

LONDON: Vaudeville Productions and Crook Productions are co-producing a magic-based competition show for ITV, The Next Great Magician.

The series will feature the world’s best magicians performing their greatest tricks, many of them for the first time ever on television, as they compete to be crowned The Next Great Magician. Each episode will see five magicians perform. The magicians will judge each other’s performances, with each week’s highest-voted contestant going through to the final. In the grand live final, the five top magicians will perform for the chance to win their own television special on ITV.

The 6×1-hour series is a co-production from Derren Brown’s Vaudeville Productions and Crook Productions, which is part of Andrew O’Connor and ITV Studios’ Cat’s On The Roof Media. It will air on ITV next summer.

O’Connor, who serves as an executive producer, said: “Some of the world’s best magicians are hero-worshipped by their peers but are unknown to wider audiences, having never trusted a TV company to film them before. The Next Great Magician will see them perform their most remarkable tricks on TV and judge each other’s performances in what promises to be a mind-blowing and unmissable magical spectacular!”

Elaine Bedell, ITV's director of entertainment and comedy, added: “We're delighted to bringing The Next Great Magician to our entertainment slate, and to be working with Andrew and Derren who are the best in the business when it comes to magic and illusion production.”