THE EXPERIMENTS

The Experiments are four astonishing one-hour specials that seek to answer powerful questions about human nature.

In The Assassin, Derren sees whether there could be anything feasible in the claim made by Robert Kennedy’s assassin that he was hypnotised by the CIA to commit the crime. The show begins by exploring the nature of hypnosis; then a young man is programmed to assassinate a celebrity at a public event, using the techniques supposedly employed by the CIA.

In Remote Control, audience members for a game show are asked to wear anonymous masks and dictate the ongoing fate of an unsuspecting, secretly filmed member of the public. The show takes a look at the horror that emerges when people are allowed to make anonymous decisions as part of a crowd.

In The Guilt Trip, we see if an unwitting member of the public can be made to confess to a murder he didn’t commit. Filmed entirely with hidden cameras in and around an English country house, a team of actors adopt roles based on Cluedo characters and manipulate one man to believe he has done something terrible… Tim Minchin also stars as himself.

The Secret of Luck provides an upbeat ending to an otherwise dark series of experiments. This time a whole town is the subject of the experiment: what happens when a rumour is spread about a lucky statue? The show culminates in one convinced local putting his entire life savings on the roll of a die.