Secrets of the Super Psychics

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Secrets of the Super Psychics was a Channel 4 documentary special in the UK, first shown in the Equinox strand in 1997, later reformated as a shorter The Learning Channel episode in 1998: "Viewers eager to know more about the differences between science and claptrap should tune in"[1].

The 90-minute film, made by Open Media, was first shown in the UK under the title Secrets of the Psychics but is not to be confused with the earlier NOVA documentary Secrets of the Psychics.

The Times said the documentary

...cast an enjoyably sceptical eye over 150 years of the paranormal...the film wobbled when it took a deep breath, turned its back on history and went all out for Uri Geller, the 1970s spoon-bender who is now, spookily, back in fashion. Doubts they had in plenty, but Channel 4's lawyers had clearly crawled all over anything that smacked of definitive conclusion. "Geller's drawings, duplicated using telepathy on television, look identical to the techniques used by conjurors - but this in itself doesn't mean that he is using the same techniques." That's what comes of trying to nail a rich psychic with a bent spoon.[2]

In 1998 the Broadcasting Standards Commission in the United Kingdom rejected a complaint made by Uri Geller, saying that it "wasn't unfair to have magicians showing how they duplicate those 'psychic feats'."[3] The full text of the BSC adjudication is available online here [1].

[edit] References

  1. ^ 'The Toronto Star, January 27, 1998
  2. ^ The Times, August 25, 1997
  3. ^ Blackmore, Susan. "U.K. broadcast commission rejects Geller's 'Secrets of the Psychics' complaint", Skeptical Inquirer, Nov-Dec, 1998. Retrieved on 2007-03-11. 

[edit] External links