BEST OF THE REST
DYNAMO: BEYOND BELIEF Sky One, 9pm
BACK after serious illness, this intense three-part special follows Dynamo’s road to recovery, combined with plenty of jaw-dropping magic.
“Success made me think I was invincible,” the magician, real name Steven Frayne, says. “But reality came knocking.”
Then we hear his wife’s 999 call to say her husband was coughing up blood. Severe food poisoning was complicated by the fact he had half of his stomach removed aged 17 due to Crohn’s disease.
There are weird animations to illustrate what was happening to him, his fears, his thoughts and dreams – while in hospital he had hundreds of ideas.
Interspersed are scenes of Dynamo, who last week revealed he had also been diagnosed with coronavirus, performing all over the world.
From a balancing act with a Geisha in Tokyo, to a card trick with American footballers and turning vodka to ice in Moscow, every feat is astonishing.
It’s all a bit dark and deep, but as with everything with Dynamo, you just can’t stop watching.
SCIENCE OF STUPID Nat Geo, 10pm
THIS bizarre series is a bit like You’ve Been Framed meets a science show.
It starts with a warning, which basically tells viewers that if you try to copy anything you see then you’re an idiot. Or words to that effect.
You watch videos of people doing stupid or risky things and more often than not they go wrong.
Then with the help of science, we find out what went wrong and why. Was it just scientific ignorance?
Usually, it’s less about not understanding physics and more about not having any common sense.
Presenter Dallas Campbell introduces the first investigation into doughnuts. The kind you do in a car, not the sugar-coated ones.
“It’s a masterclass in static and kinetic friction,” says Dallas, as we watch a motorist land his car in a tree.
Later, pouring liquid causes trouble and a paraglider tries to land in a moving cable car.
Yep, the title says it all.