If you tuned into BBC Two last night you might have found yourself experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions as the cast of Inside No. 9 took you on a spooky journey for their Halloween live special Dead Line. The idea behind the show was to make you think it was a live TV broadcast gone wrong, and many people fell for it during the initial first few minutes when the BBC announced they were experiencing technical difficulties.
Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton in Inside No. 9 Live, Dead Line
It just got us thinking of all those genuine TV stunts that have gone badly wrong in the past:
Bobby Davro in the stocks
This clip actually made a brief appearance in the Inside No. 9 episode, as a kind of homage to television stunts that have gone badly wrong in the past. In the case of this comedian, he was trapped in a set of stocks for a comedy skit, but they ended up toppling over and he landed face-first on the concrete floor. He was OK in the end, but according to presenter Keith Chegwin, the clip is used for BBC health and safety courses these days, largely because the prop had not been properly assembled.
Derren Brown's Russian Roulette
The legendary British mentalist stopped hearts all across the country in his first ever TV special Russian Roulette. The live episode saw him instruct a member of the public to place a live round in a revolver without Derren Brown knowing which chamber it was in. The idea then was that Derren would fire the chambers he thought were empty at his head, and the live round at a bag of sand. However, while he managed to complete the stunt successfully, halfway through he fired an empty round at the sandbag forcing him to pause for at least a full minute out of apparent fear that he had misjudged the stunt. Then again, it could've just been for effect...
Marcin Poloniewicz and his "Nail-in-a-Bag" trick
It's worth thinking twice before you get yourself involved in a potentially dangerous magic trick, because as a member of the public you just don't know what could go wrong. When magician Marcin Poloniewicz was invited onto a Polish breakfast show, he performed the popular "Nail in a Bag" trick which involves a set of brown paper bags, all but one of which are empty with the last concealing a vertical nail. The idea is for the bags to be mixed around without the magician knowing and for them or an assistant to slam their hand down on all of them magically avoiding the one with the nail. Of course, on this occasion, it went badly wrong and Marcin ended up impaling host Marzena Rogalska's hand.
Anthea Turner in motorbike blast
While presenting a BBC series called UP2U, Anthea Turner ended up with several burns and hearing loss after a motorcycle blasted out of a truck from right behind her. She was actually visibly on fire in footage from the stunt after she was caught in the explosion, and successfully sued the BBC once she had recovered.
America's Got Talent and the flaming arrow
The quarterfinals of 2016's America's Got Talent saw magician Ryan Stock and his partner Amber Lynn perform a terrifying trick in which Amber had to fire a flaming arrow at a target in Ryan's mouth, which was attached to a long metal rod which he had inserted down his oesophagus. Unfortunately, she missed the target and got Ryan in the neck. It didn't pierce the skin but it was just as worrying to see what damage his reaction could have done with the rod down his throat. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries.
Vietnam's Got Talent and the acid shot
They should really stop stunt artists and amateur magicians from performing on talent shows. In the semi-final of Vietnam's Got Talent, Tan Phat played a version of Russian Roulette that involved avoiding a shot of acid among four other shot glasses of water. He asked one of the judges to mix them up without him seeing, and Tan ended up spitting out a mouthful of acid. Needless to say, he went to hospital to have his mouth burns looked at.
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