Paul trains Daniel Radcliffe to win Qi

Paul gave Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe a crash course in magic history which contributed to his winning appearance on the Christmas edition of Qi.

TV appearances

Paul regularly performs on television both as an interviewee and as a performer.

Appearances include:

• BBC History of Magic
• Illusions
• Blue Peter
• Tricks and Tracks
• Heroes of Magic
• Japanese TV Magic special
• GMTV
• network tour of US TV in December 2004 to promote his online magic course for Sci Fi Channel.

TV magic consultancy

Paul has worked as a consultant producer on a number of television programmes including for Channel 4 “Soloman the Escape Artist”, Derren Brown Trick Of The Mind (series consultant) and Derren Brown’s Séance.

He was also the main consultant on Magic Carnival created by Chatsworth T.V. /Open Media.

He worked with Geoffrey Durham as a consultant on his TV pilot “Little Miracles” in 1993 which was the first “street” magic show ever made – .

He worked on two “Children In Need” productions for the BBC most notably in 2003 supervising and training Simon Cowell, Nicky Chapman and Pete Waterman so that Simon could be sawn in half on live TV.

Sawing Simon Cowell in half

Paul contributed to David Copperfield’s “Special Forces” TV special filmed in 1994.

Paul was a consultant and frequent contributor to the landmark 6 part BBC series “History Of Magic” transmitted in 2004. He has created a website for Sci Fi Channel to promote the mini-series “Legend of Earthsea”.

I’d Do Anything

The BBC TV programme “I’d Do Anything” in 2008 was a primetime search for a “Nancy” and an “Oliver” to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End revival of Lionel Bart’s musical “Oliver!” Paul ran one of the weekly challenges, training the young Olivers in ‘the nimble art of sleight of hand’ so that they could hone their pick-pocketing skills.  Full version of the interview on the BBC website here. (more…)

Legend of Earthsea: online wizardry course

This article – essentially a history of magic – was created by Paul Kieve as an “online wizardry course” for the Sci Fi Channel in the USA. The idea was that pupils could take an online course in magic, instructed via web seminars by Paul, and finally complete a wizardry exam. Paul devised and wrote the course based on themes from Ursula K Le Guin’s fantasy adventure “Earthsea” books. The site was created to promote the Sci Fi channel’s mini series “Legend of Earthsea”. (more…)