Trick or Treat is a British television

British television

Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...

 show hosted by Derren Brown

Derren Brown

Derren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...

 and broadcast on Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

. The first episode was broadcast on 13 April 2007. The focus of the show is on one person selected from a pool of volunteers who responded to adverts in the national press to take part in the show. The experience the volunteer receives is decided by which card they choose. If they choose the card that says 'Trick' they receive a bad experience and if they choose the card that says 'Treat' they receive a good experience. This distinction is not always obvious, however: in Series 2, a participant's dark experience of being persuaded to (supposedly) kill a kitten was a 'treat' because of the positive attitude to life Derren believed she would consequently develop; similarly, a volunteer who chose a 'trick' was kidnapped, but had been taught escapology

Escapology

For the Jessica Mauboy song, see Inescapable.Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks and other perils, often in combination.-History:The art...

 techniques which enabled her to easily escape.

Episodes of Trick or Treat are not preceded by Brown's usual claim that no actors or stooges were used in the filming of the shows. Indeed, some participants (such as the ambulance crew in the final episode of Series 1) are declared to be actors.

Series 1

Series 1 of Trick or Treat began airing on 17 April 2007.

The cards which Brown used throughout this series of this show are deceptive as they are rotational ambigram

Ambigram

An ambigram is a typographical design or art form that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation. The words readable in the other viewpoint, direction or orientation may be the same or different from the original...

s and can read either 'Trick' or 'Treat' depending on which way up Brown chooses to hold them, and thus the card chosen by the participant is irrelevant, in terms of the following events. The ambigram was designed by John Langdon

John Langdon (typographer)

John Langdon is an American graphic designer, ambigram artist, painter, and writer.The son of George Langdon, a teacher at The Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pennsylvania, John Langdon attended that school from 1950-1964. He received his bachelor's degree in English from Dickinson College,...

. To break up the stories of each episode, the series also includes separate routines with celebrities and also footage from the USA where Brown has been able to use his anonymity to try out new stunts.

Episode air date	Trick or Treat?	Notes
13 April 2007	Trick	The subject is put into a catatonic trance in a photo booth in London, and - over the next 13 hours - is transported to Marrakesh, Morocco Morocco Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... . He wakes up in a photo booth in the back of a cafe near the main square Djemaa el Fna Jamaa el Fna is a square and market place in Marrakesh's medina quarter . The origin of its name is unclear: Jemaa means "congregational mosque" in Arabic, probably referring to a destroyed Almoravid mosque... . Also featured in this episode are the League of Gentlemen (razor in a chocolate roll trick) and a phone trick in the US.
20 April 2007	Trick	The subject participates in a ventriloquism show where he becomes bound to the dummy. When the dummy is put in its trunk, the subject finds he cannot see. Also featured are the Chapman Brothers with Adrian Searle (an art critic for The Guardian The Guardian The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format... ) and Brown’s paying with paper routine in New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... .
27 April 2007	Treat	A novice elderly lady is taught how to read bluffs Bluff (poker) In the card game of poker, a bluff is a bet or raise made with a hand which is not thought to be the best hand. To bluff is to make such a bet. The objective of a bluff is to induce a fold by at least one opponent who holds a better hand. The size and frequency of a bluff determines its...  and play poker Poker Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker... . After only one week’s practice, she takes part in a tournament with professional poker players and is beaten only by a fluked Bad beat In poker, bad beat is a subjective term for a hand in which a player with what appear to be strong cards nevertheless loses. It most often occurs where one player bets the clearly stronger hand and their opponent makes a poor call that eventually "hits" and wins...  final hand. Also featured is Brown acting as a waxwork Waxwork Waxwork or waxworks may refer to:* Wax museum, a museum for a collection of wax figures* Celastrus scandens, a plant in the Celastraceae family* Waxwork , a 1988 comedy/horror film* Waxworks , a 1924 German silent film...  in Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud and was formerly known as "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used...  and a trick to make an American lady think cars were different colours to what they were.
4 May 2007	Trick	The subject is firstly kidnapped in a London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...  taxi cab and then becomes a street madman. Also featured is Martin Freeman Martin Freeman Martin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...  and the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ routine in the Emigrant Savings Bank, Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York... .
11 May 2007	Treat	The subject is taught to play the piano and gives a professional standard recital within weeks. Later it transpires that the subject had played piano earlier in her life, but Brown persuaded her to forget this, so that she could rediscover her lost joy of playing. Also featured is Simon Callow Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...  at Compton Verney House Compton Verney House Compton Verney House is an 18th century country mansion at Compton Verney near Kineton in Warwickshire which has been converted into the Compton Verney Art Gallery....  and Brown acting as a psychic waiter in New York.
18 May 2007	Trick	The subject is put into a trance and wakes up at the scene of a staged road traffic accident in which she sees herself dead in her car. She is unable to move her legs and the 'rescue personnel' do not respond to her presence. Prior to its broadcast, this episode was criticised in the Daily Mail Daily Mail The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982... newspaper for trivialising the issue of road deaths and potentially harming the subject psychologically, although in the end credits the positive spin was to claim that the subject – shown in the episode driving very carelessly - now took much more care behind the wheel after the experience. Also featured in this episode are the 'Prediction Bag' routine in Covent Garden Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...  and the 'Lying Car Salesmen' in the US.

Series 2

Series 2 of Trick or Treat began airing on 2 May 2008.

The cards which Brown used in this series are not the ambigram

Ambigram

An ambigram is a typographical design or art form that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation. The words readable in the other viewpoint, direction or orientation may be the same or different from the original...

s as used in Series 1, but are visually distinct 'Trick' and 'Treat' cards.

Episode air date	Episode Title	Trick or Treat?	Notes
2 May 2008	Quiz	Treat	The subject is taught a technique of speed learning, and spends a week scanning hundreds of books in preparation for a Night of the Champions pub quiz, in which he enters as the only solo participant and comes second only to two teams who tied for first place.
9 May 2008	Kitten	Treat	The subject is shown a kitten in a metal cage and told that it will be electrocuted if she presses a button. The subject would win £500 if she stays in the room for five minutes without killing the kitten. Derren's negative suggestion Suggestion Suggestion is the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of another. Nineteenth century writers on psychology such as William James used the words "suggest" and "suggestion" in senses close to those they have in common speech—one idea was said to...  forces her to press the button at the last second. However, she finds the cat is still alive and thus wins the £500. The treat was that the subject would think back to the moment if she was ever being negative in future, and would then become a more positive person.
16 May 2008	Time	Treat	The subject, guest star David Tennant David Tennant David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr... , appears to have the ability to time travel. He is taken back to 29 September 1938 and gives out facts that appear in a newspaper from the following day. He then predicts what a member of the public will draw on a card, twenty minutes beforehand. Finally, he performs automatic writing Automatic writing Automatic writing or psychography is writing which the writer states to be produced from a subconscious and/or spiritual source without conscious awareness of the content.-History:... , predicting two news items which would appear three days later in The Guardian The Guardian The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format... newspaper. It was mentioned in the episode that Tennant had applied to the programme in the same way any ordinary member of the public would.
23 May 2008	Escape	Trick	The subject is taught ancient techniques on how to get free from complicated, risky situations. Subsequently, the subject - with hands and feet tied - is inserted into a sack and thrown into a lake. The subject gets free. During the course of the show, Derren claims that the subject will be completely alone under the water, bar a stationary camera.
30 May 2008	Confidence	Treat	The subject is put through a round of speed dating, where his shyness and lack of confidence clearly hold him back. Derren then puts the subject through a series of exercises and visualizations to build the subject's confidence. The subject is then put through another round of speed dating, where many more women placed him on their "would like to meet again" list, and he even proactively begins dating one of the interested women. Over a month after the subject believes all of the filming has been completed, Brown tests the subject in a robbery.
6 June 2008	Superstition	Neither	All previous participants from the series returned, and were placed in a room with a counter and several objects, saying that they had to score 100 points within half an hour. However, the points were awarded randomly and not by any actions performed in the room, referring to Skinner's pigeon experiments. If they had realised that, they might have noticed there was a further element, and found the sign above them on the ceiling telling them that the doors were unlocked and £150,000 waiting for them if they went to get it, which they did not. In another part of the episode, a superstitious woman was tested on her beliefs by being made to walk on pavement cracks and under ladders, smash a mirror, etc. (causing her to comment on whether she would be killed on the way home), to see if it affected her luck in a following experiment, which it didn't. A caption at the end of the show said that the episode was dedicated to her memory, having been killed on the way home from filming, although a continuity announcer later revealed that it was a joke.