In ‘How To Control The Nation’ Derren will explore subliminal messaging techniques, concluding with an attempt to literally stick the viewers at home to their sofas. Derren says:

“The second show is a piece of media which will be played to the viewing nation that will have the effect of rendering them immobile. Not all of them, but it will basically stick a lot of people to their seats. It’s safe, it won’t work on everybody, but it’s applying what I do one on one with people on stage and turning it into a piece of technology that can then be broadcast – and it has never been done before.”

“I think there’l be quite a wide range of responses. I’m sort of experimenting with mass influence and suggestion in the current live show that I’m doing, and this idea came from that work. It’s perfectly safe, though. People will be able to call into the show – we’ll be telling people to keep their phones within reach – and I’ll be talking to some of those people during the show, so I’ll be able to find out how viewers have reacted.”

“If viewers TVs happened to break, or I died suddenly, after a few minutes people would be able to stand up again.”

Derren explains: “The last load of TV work has been almost mini-dramas based around participants – Trick or Treat was always someone else’s story. Or it was TV specials of the stage shows that I’ve done. I wanted to do something a bit different for this series, to come up with something fresh. I wanted to go back more to the performance-related stuff, back to the roots of what I do.”

“I think there’ll be quite a wide range of responses. I’m sort of experimenting with mass influence and suggestion in the current live show that I’m doing, and this idea came from that work. It’s perfectly safe, though. People will be able to call into the show – we’ll be telling people to keep their phones within reach – and I’ll be talking to some of those people during the show, so I’ll be able to find out how viewers have reacted.”

According to the Mirror:

It could be a load of old balls, but illusionist Derren Brown reckons he’ll predict the Lottery numbers live on TV just minutes before the draw. In a 10-minute Channel 4 special on Wednesday, broadcast at the same time as BBC1’s National Lottery Live draw, Brown will try to PICK the six numbers correctly.

The mind-bending performer promises to reveal his technique to viewers in an hour-long follow-up programme on Friday. Brown, 38, admits: If this one goes wrong, it could be a career-breaker. Wednesday nights jackpot stands at £2.4million, but C4 bosses have banned Brown from buying a ticket.

Last night he told the Mirror: “I realise there are a lot of questions this brings up and I hope they will be answered on the Friday night follow-up show. For now, Im really excited and really nervous.”