July 15 2014
UKTV's flagship entertainment channel, Watch, today confirmed the return of a fourth series of world-wide hit Dynamo: Magician Impossible this autumn.
The award-winning magic show has charted Dynamo's journey from humble beginnings in Bradford to becoming one of the world's most talked about entertainers/illusionists following his dramatic stunts, which have included the Thames 'River Walk' in London, walking down the side of the LA Times building and levitating in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Steve North, General Manager for Watch, said,
Dynamo is leading the regenerated interest in magic, with millions of fans around the world. As well as the mind-blowing magic Dynamo: Magician Impossible is the amazing story of the man himself, and how his passion for illusion has rocketed him to international stardom. We are thrilled that Watch is the home of Dynamo and that we have brought the show to a global audience.
The fourth series of Dynamo: Magician Impossible follows Dynamo as he travels to LA, San Francisco, Paris and ? for the first time - India before heading to London and returning to the north of England, where his story began. From pop stars, to actors to passers-by on the street, the reaction to Dynamo?s spine-tingling magic is infectious ? amazing everyone he comes into contact with.
UKTV?s Director of Commissioning, Richard Watsham, said,
The brilliant Dynamo absolutely embodies our strategy of making the highest quality entertainment shows that compete with the very best that other broadcasters have to offer. Licensing the first series to BBC One where it premiered with almost 4 million viewers was a huge achievement and we look forward to building on that success with four more extraordinary episodes.
Famous names featuring in Dynamo: Magician Impossible include One Direction, Coldplay and Indian actor and Bollywood star Irrfan Khan.
Dynamo, whose real name is Steven Frayne, emerged as a star after Dynamo: Magician Impossible became a huge hit, with the series reaching over 30 million viewers to date. The series has received much critical acclaim being the first digital programme to win Best Entertainment Programme two years running at the Broadcast Awards. Dynamo: Magician Impossible also won TV Show of The Year as voted by viewers at the Virgin Media Awards and Best Multichannel Programme at the 2013 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. It has been nominated for Baftas and a National Television Award.
Dynamo?s worldwide social following has continued to grow as his 2.2 million Twitter followers and 4.1m Facebook fans, making him the most followed magician in the world.
UKTV?s Watch has enjoyed a strong start to 2014 with adult share up 13% year-on-year. More than 14m individuals tune into the channel every month, helping to make UKTV the fastest growing non-PSB broadcaster in Britain. UKTV?s award-winning network of 10 channels reaches over 42 million viewers a month.
For more information contact:
Justine Bower, Group Publicity Manager, UKTV Lucy Fox, Publicist, UKTV
About Watch
Sky 109 (HD)/155 and Virgin 125 (HD)/124
Watch is an entertainment channel that promises to surprise with out of the ordinary programming. Premiering hit fantasy and science-fiction dramas such as Grimm, Believe and Beauty and the Beast, it also showcases a selection of distinctive series like Doctor Who, David Attenborough?s Natural Curiosities, Masterchef Australia and The Happenings. Watch is the exclusive home of Dynamo: Magician Impossible, an award winning original commission from UKTV.
watchchannel.co.uk / @Watch_Channel
About UKTV
UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers per month.
UKTV?s ten imaginative channel brands - Watch, Dave, Gold, Alibi, Eden, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home and Good Food - include the most watched non-PSB channel, the most watched channel in the Factual genre and the most watched channels in the Lifestyle genre (Pay and Free). The company?s most recent financial results showed a record-breaking year-end revenue of ?262m, and operating profit at ?71m.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC and Channel 4 content, and embracing technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT TV, TalkTalk, YouView, plus direct On Demand digital services. The network distributes its highly valued programmes to 200 territories around the world and supplies Sky with more hours of HD content than anyone else.
Now celebrating its 21st year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.