The camera follows Steven Frayne from council estate courtyards to Hollywood red carpets as the softly spoken 28-year-old makes phones appear inside sealed bottles and turns lottery tickets into cash in front of Samuel L. Jackson, Liam Payne and Rio Ferdinand. Each 45-minute instalment cuts between guerrilla street hits and glossy set-pieces: he walks across the Thames outside Parliament in the 2011 opener, hovers above Rio’s 38-metre statue in 2012, and in 2014 throws a diamond into the Seine before materialising it inside sealed glass at the Crillon. Ratings peaked at 2.1 million for the Rio episode, securing the show three consecutive BAFTA nominations for Best Entertainment Programme and a Broadcast Award for the second run.
Production began after a Prince’s Trust loan let Frayne buy cameras to film early “magic mix-tapes” on London pavements; those YouTube clips of Snoop Dogg and Gwyneth Paltrow gasping attracted the attention of Watch, UKTV’s fledgling channel hungry for a home-grown face. Phil McIntyre Television and Inner Circle Films shot across four continents, stitching Bradford accents into Miami speedboats, Ibiza clubs and Mumbai alleyways, before BBC One cherry-picked three episodes for a 2014 terrestrial airing. The final tally: 250 million viewers in 193 territories, 16 episodes, no fourth wall, no explanation.
Frayne never breaks the spell; narration is minimal, music is cinematic, and each stunt ends on a silent close-up of open mouths. The series finished in September 2014, repeats now looping endlessly on Dave between Top Gear and QI, keeping the impossibility alive in advert-sized chunks.
Production Details
U&W / 4 Seasons / 16 Episodes / 2011
Created by: Steven Frayne
Showrunner(s): Debbie Young, Helen Parker, Tess Cuming
Producer(s): John Richland, Randeep Sandhu
Main Cast
Steven Frayne as Self
Natalie Imbruglia as Self
Travis Barker as Self
Scott Mills as Self
Rio Ferdinand as Self
Kimberly Wyatt as Self
Mathew Horne as Self
Labrinth as Self
Damon Albarn as Self
Jessica Ennis-Hill as Self
Samuel L. Jackson as Self
Leigh Francis as Self
