Steve Jones: Just a quick one. Stuff the White Rabbit. I used to love that show.

How come there was never a second season or more episodes?

Peter Kessler: Oy oy oy, don't get me started.

STWR was commissioned initially by Granada as a one-off regional show. BBC2 then bought it as a series when Michael Jackson was Controller of BBC2. By the time it was transmitted, Jackson had gone to C4 and Mark Thompson was Controller. He declared openly in a meeting with Granada's head of entertainment that he hated magic (Thompson's history - and an impeccable one it is too - is in serious documentaries).

Under Mark Thompson, STWR was transmitted at midnight and no consideration was given to re-commissioning it. As I've mentioned elsewhere, it got higher viewing figures than any other programme in that slot for the previous three years, and uniformly glowing reviews from the national press. But all to no avail. At the time it really aggravated me that a channel controller's personal tastes should so deeply affect his commissioning decisions. In fact, it still does.

Nigel Shelton: Please excuse my ignorance but unfortunately I never had the opportunity to view this series and I suspect that may be other members (especially those that reside outside the UK) that are also not familiar with these programmes.

Would it be possible for you to describe in a paragraph, the theme or ethos of this series and what made it different from other magic programmes on the television?

Peter Kessler: It wasn't very revolutionary. The format was to do roughly with magicians what the old Granada series 'The Comedians' had done with stand-ups, i.e. take a number of carefully chosen performers, get them to perform their routines in an ideal studio setting, then divide the routines into their constituent tricks and edit them together into a series of single shows.

The six episodes were created out of four nights' performance in Manchester, and each show featured John Lenahan as 'host' and Jerry Sadowitz doing close-up. The atmosphere was small-scale, quirky, funny and respectful to the performers involved. It also featured a lot of background soul music, partly because I like soul music but also to underline that this was, as it were, 'soul magic' as opposed to sequins-and-doves.

DAK: STWR was probably the best magic series I've seen on TV. Such a shame about the time of it and no second season! It really was first class and many non-magicians I know loved it too.

ozman: I take it there is nowhere that I can see re-runs of this series now?

Peter Kessler: DAK, thank you. Ozman, the only way to get tapes now would be to pay Granada to make VHS copies from the original masters. But the charge would probably be astronomical. I can inquire if you wish.

Shaun Robinson: I have every single episode of STWR on Tape, and I never ever get tired of watching them back. The comedy, the attitude and the people made this show a real winner. It portrayed a totally different side of magic, and I wish it would come back on to our screens!

Steve Jones:

I thought I would put this here. I would love to hear your views on this Peter considering your background.

Thanks

Peter Kessler: I think that, just at the moment, there is a good mixture of original magic and magic compilations on TV. Magic has always lent itself very readily to compilation shows, and it remains one of the most enjoyable ways to watch magic from a TV point of view.

The recent C5 series might have been a bit much, as the various themes for each programme started to merge into one another after a while. But if that series hadn't existed, I don't think it would feel like there was too much compilation around.

What I really do think there are too much of property programmes on BBC2 and C4. Imagine if there was that much magic: all evening, every evening! Having said all of that, a new magic show with a refreshing and appealing format or star would be great to find.