When Louis Met Paul and Debbie

To the three of us. To the three of us. Menage a trois!

In a village in Oxfordshire, on the banks of the Thames, lives Britain's most famous magician - Paul Daniels,

with his wife and former assistant, Debbie McGee.

Now in their 60s and 40s respectively, the couple are entering a new phase in their lives.

They allowed me to spend some time getting to know them.

I don't want you to film at this door.

Come to the other door, cos this is the bit we haven't finished, so...

OK. Sorry about that. All right.

Hello, there! Come in, Louis.

Shall I take my shoes off? Um...yes, please. Why not? We've got ours off.

How are you doing? Not bad. He's just on the phone. He'll be with you in a second.

I'm in bare feet. Look how small I am!

I haven't got high shoes on today. This becomes the lounge. Very nice.

This is amazing, the way this is recessed. Yeah. Debbie got a shock.

She went out. When she came back, no chimney. I had to get my whip out!

I dunno... It works! Crikey! What is that? It's a standard lamp, son.

These books look like they might be quite valuable. Um...

Robert Houdin. The father of modern magic - Jean Eugene Robert Houdin. Lived in the last century... Nice.

Yes, the drawing. Is it in all your books? Mm. It's called a book plate.

What about up here, Paul and Debbie?

Well, no. All the bedrooms are currently being done. Oh, they are.

Very good try! We've allowed you in,

but we said until we'd finished the house we weren't thinking of doing anything. We want it to be finished.

I would like to see YOUR bedroom. Is that done? Nope. No. No?

We just told you it wasn't! Please pay attention! Cheeky little monkey!

Wants us to take him up there, but I'm not.

'With the bedroom off limits, it was time to get down to business, and the biggest reason why I was here.

'With Paul now retired from the world of magic,

'Debbie was about to fulfil a dream, setting up her own company - Ballet Imaginaire - funded by Paul.'

Here on the poster it says, "Debbie McGee for PDM International Presents..."

So it doesn't actually say Paul Daniels anywhere on the poster. No. I'm just paying for it.

Can I ask how much? We'll be looking at about 300 grand, I think.

We can't make a profit on the first run. It's impossible. So you're not doing this for financial reasons?

Not yet. What ARE you doing it for, then?

I'm doing it because Debbie wanted to do it. I think she's good at it.

The original impetus was yours, Debbie? Yep. With Paul's backing.

It was something he knew I wanted to do, and he said go ahead.

You were with the Iranian National Ballet? Yes, I was. So did you dance for the Shah of Iran? I did, yes.

It was amazing. Was he nice? Lovely. And his wife.

I was there when the revolution broke out and that's how I met Paul, how I auditioned for his show.

I came home and all the English ballet companies were full, and I needed a job.

You knew you'd be a magician's assistant? Well, no. I auditioned for Paul's show as a dancer.

So for a good few years, while you were working in the magic,

at the back of your mind there's been this idea of going back to ballet? Yeah, absolutely.

It was always my first love. It must be weird for you, Paul, to get used to being, in effect, the assistant -

now Debbie's the magician! It's wonderful. I've no problems with it.

This is all your stuff. We should be looking at this. If you want to, Mr Cameraman. Rehearsal schedule.

I don't like showing people my untidy areas, but here we are. These are all my files.

Is this your bag? Yes. You don't want to see my underwear, do you?!

Sorry, Paul. My lacy knickers!

You can if you want. I'm sure you've seen it all before.

Are there tricks in the ballet? It's got magical bits. Not tricks.

Paul just said there WERE tricks. Magical happenings. Yes, special effects. Magical happenings?

It's like Paul did... OK, you both want to say magical happenings!

Paul did special effects for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom...

Phantom Of The Opera? Yeah. People didn't watch it... I've not seen it.

You don't think, "Oh, that's a magic trick." It's a magical happening!

Come on then, duckies!

'At the end of our first day together, I had a chance to reflect.

'I felt Debbie and I were getting on pretty well. With Paul, I thought, maybe there was more work to do.'

You're all perky this morning?

Oh, yes. Good morning, everybody. ..Would you like some orange juice?

Yes, please. I'd love a coffee.

Can I give you a hand, Debbie? No, you're all right.

You sure? Nearly there. Coffee's on, Louis. It'll wake you up in a minute. Breakfast is coming.

What do you prefer?

Oh!

I've got Frosties, Country Crisps, Cornflakes, Weetabix and Shreddies.

Could I...could I get some Weetabix and Cornflakes, please? Yep. Together.

With the premiere of Ballet Imaginaire looming,

Paul and Debbie were moving up to Lincoln for final rehearsals.

He and I went on ahead in his van.

We stopped for the Sunday Telegraph, which had a feature about Debbie.

Shall I read it out? If you like. Can you read while we drive? Yeah.

"Debbie McGee is pleasant, thoughtful, hospitable, forthcoming.

"Considering what has been written about her being a gold-digger,

"and she was the subject of sexually depraved photographs..." What?! "..computer-generated..." Oh, yeah.

Somebody on the Internet has... mocked up some pictures, apparently,

and everybody writes to me - I get a lot of e-mail about it.

I say, "Please, if you know the site, tell me."

Because apparently they're really bad.

Hi. Louis. How do you do? Not bad.

'Our next stop was at Paul's younger brother Trevor's house, for a prop he'd made for a magical happening.'

If you take that to a bank, they'll laugh at you!

Take it to a chemist, they'll make it up. "Take three times a day...!"

I've seen the show. Yeah. That's for your...all the stuff you spent.

When we reached Lincoln, Paul and Debbie got down to work.

Debbie was rehearsing with the cast.

Artistic director and choreographer, she was clearly in her element.

It's gotta have pzazz.

What is your function here today? I keep a general, overall eye open.

I've always had an eye for detail.

What's the delay now? Waiting for lighting, that's all.

I can't do a lot more...

The next day, rehearsals continued, and so Paul took me to Doncaster, to a warehouse where he keeps props.

Maybe we could do some tricks there. You forgot to bring Debbie. Meaning?

I'll be Debbie! She's got to get in. # I'll be your Debbie tonight! #

What about this? What've you got? What've you got?

Oh, I remember them. Yes. They were a good act.

There you are. Oh, it's quite clean inside.

You see, if you stand there... Quite a tight squeeze, isn't it?

Is that safe? It's all safe, yes. You see, you're far too big for it.

Do you see what I mean? Close the door.

Right, I think it's coffee-break time, don't you? Everybody say yes to a coffee?

The team... How long would you have to stay in here for a magic trick?

Paul?

PAUL STAYS SILENT It's quite nice in here.

Hmm.

Well, I'm glad about that. I'll tell you why.

All the boxes I make... Please close it. Please close it!

Shouldn't I be elsewhere? No, you're supposed to be there.

Debbie has probably spent hours in there. Well... And you wonder why she wants to do ballet!

This is like a life's work in here, isn't it? A major part of my life, yeah, is all stuffed in here.

But it's time for a new life.

When you stopped working with the BBC, how did that come about?

Er...

They had a change of policy. I don't think it was anything personal.

They just, um...decided...

not to do a light entertainment show.

Did you feel at all hard done by?

How did they break it to you that your services weren't required? Well, they didn't break it to me.

I found out from a dress designer at a party.

Did you feel ill-used?

I don't think I felt ill-used. I felt that they were extremely rude.

'I couldn't be sure, but it was possible that Paul and I were starting to bond.

'In Lincoln, the world premiere of Ballet Imaginaire was drawing close.

'It seemed to be coming together.

'But I wondered what Debbie felt about Paul's involvement.'

Do you worry that Paul might feel left out? I did worry at first that he would. But he doesn't.

He is a part of it because of me anyway, and he's done a lot of work for it.

This morning, he's off collecting the photographs and things.

He's going to make a display for the foyer.

But when you think about it, it's quite a comedown from being the nation's favourite magician.

Pinning up photographs. But he wants to do it. He's helping me. And...

Paul's like that. You know, he's been famous for such a long time, Louis, it's nice to have a break.

PHONE RINGS And for you to get the limelight.

'To publicise the ballet, Debbie was doing phone interviews.'

Thank you. ..Yep, absolutely. A childhood dream come true.

It sounds very sugary, doesn't it? But, yeah, ballet was my first love.

I put that on the shelf for 20 years to work in television as a "box jumper", as they call assistants!

..Yeah. Box jumpers - jumping in and out of illusions.

..What we've always thought when we read those articles is,

"What do they know? Aren't we lucky that we're happy?"

When they wrote I was a bimbo... It never hurt me, cos they don't know what qualifications I've got.

Thanks, Peter. Bye-bye.

That was more in-depth than I thought it would be. I know. He'd done his homework. He had.

What was the question about a bimbo?

Oh, about getting hurt about what the papers write?

When Paul and I got married, they all wrote that it would never last,

and that I was a magician's assistant with no brains.

I don't consider myself a bimbo, but I like wearing glamorous clothes.

If I really was a bimbo, um...

So what, anyway? You know?

Come on! We have to walk faster! Why fast? Cos I don't walk slowly.

And I'm almost late. No, I'm on time. It's not far.

How are you doing? How do you do? Roger, isn't it?

They're going to transform me now.

So, um...you have to go, so that... What about if we just wait here?

No, you can't, Louis. Can't we watch from here? Go on. No, no, look.

We'll dye your hair blond! It might be a harassment to other customers. There aren't any! Where are they?

Yes, this lady. She's looking harassed. You're all right, aren't you? You don't mind us?

She doesn't want her friends to see her under the hairdryer. Nor do I.

I'll be finished at about 12.30, won't I? I think so. Two hours?!

Yeah. It's a long job.

All right? OK? See you later. Bye. Bye.

With two hours to kill, I went for a cup of tea and spotted Paul in the high street.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Debs, there's a film crew up the high street,

for some reason taking pictures of a cafe. Where are you?

Paul! Hello? Where are you?

Hello?

Welcome to Lincoln, the twilight zone. Phones do not work! Paul... Oh, there you are!

Here's Debbie again.

Hello? She's getting her hair done. I'm in the hairdresser's.

She's in the hairdresser's. ..I'm gonna buy shoes.

How are you, Debbie? You've got Louis with you, have you? Yes!

Life is not perfect. You don't mean it, but it's still hurtful.

Are you going shopping? I'm going to buy shoes cos I forgot 'em. Bye.

See you later, Debbie... Oh. You don't hang around, do you? No, no!

She's seen us. Can we come in? Of course.

You take a lot of pride in your appearance and it shows. Thank you.

D'you think Paul takes a lot of care of his appearance? He's very clean.

Hygiene? Yeah. What about clothes? He's more interested in other things.

He's got quite funny fashion sense.

He likes colourful things. He does. He's not, sort of, dowdy,

but he's not interested in men's fashion at all.

That Telegraph article said that you convinced him to abandon the wig. Is that true?

I thought he looked better without it. Did you? Yeah.

Would he wear it in bed? Oh, no.

Maybe he did before he met me. You'll have to ask him that one.

That's a good one, isn't it, Louis? That's made us all laugh.

So, he'd be like, "Good night, Debbie. Let's brush our teeth and I'll take my wig off and then..."

It'd be quite funny. D'you know what we use his old wigs for now?