Interview with Paul Daniels : Secrets

After so many years of the Paul Daniel’s Magic Show, why the change of format?
The format and layout of the Paul Daniel’s Magic Show changed practically every year in one way or another. Showbiz, as a 'look', was becoming very, dare I say it, downmarket. The street was never the place to find the best performers, just those who couldn't make the step into the big time. I already know one or two who did make it into the fame game, but I still don't like that 'look'. I like a bit of style and glamour in my living room when I am watching TV, not scruffy blokes! There I go again... controversial as ever. So, because the Gods of Showbusiness were looking for the cheapest ways to make TV, I went the opposite route and tried to make it more glamorous and up market. I came up with the Secrets Night Club. I like being different to the other shows.

Did the BBC just let you get on with it?
I wish. The idea was mine and the full idea was to have you 'enter' the club as in real life and be invited to sit down and then the camera (you!) would watch the stuff in the club!

The Secrets show was supposed to be based in a real nightclub although the final result is still very much a ‘studio’ show.
My intention was for the camera to be on a steady cam and 'walk around', just as if you were really there. As it was, the director was old school BBC, despite being younger than me, and insisted on shooting it the way they shot everything else. I LOVED the way the American directors were going in drama and that is what I would loved to have been happening around the club. Instead we had the old way of using 7 cameras and then editing them so the TV show, for me, looked old fashioned and I hated it. It could have looked fabulous with modern direction.

If you were to remake Secrets again would you change anything?
I would not try to work that format again, even with the right direction. I do know what I would do.... but I will wait until somebody pays me to advise on such a production...

What did the ‘club guests’ think of Secrets?
A real surprise was the audience. For the first time in 20 years of making shows for ITV and the BBC, the audience really did not want to go home! We simply could not get them to leave the studio and they believed they were in a real magical nightclub.

How were guest artists chosen?
Guests were selected the same way that they always were. Some we knew already; some agents/friends/other magicians and acts submitted tapes and CVs and then they were 'fitted into' the format.

A constant style of Secrets was to have each act flowing (seemingly unedited) from one to the next. There are, however, a few ‘fluffs’ during the series - was each show filmed 'as live'?
I like 'fluffs'. The show DID flow in the main from one scene to another and it was rehearsed to do just that. There must have been some pick-ups along the way but I can't remember for what and I don't think that it would be the fault of the performers. Usually pickups are done because the camera director has failed to be in the right place at the right time.

Do you have a favourite effect from the series?
Man, I can't remember what I did in my last show, never mind all those years ago.

At the end of the series you invited viewers to write into to the BBC – were you aware that this was the end of the series at this point? Was the format change part of this?
I think I did that because the VAST majority of viewers NEVER write in and then for years they moan about the lack of what they want to see on the box. So I tried to get them involved and active.

Overall are you happy with the series?
Was I happy with what happened in the studio and the format of the show? YES!!!! Was it fun to make? YES!!!!!!!! Was I happy with what was transmitted? NO!!!!! I only watched about half of the first one and realised that my concept had been screwed.... so I never watched any more after that. The Secrets Show was NOT what I had in my mind.

Paul Daniels, thank you very much

Paul Daniels Additional Links

  • Paul Daniels
  • The Paul Daniels Magic Show
  • Secrets