Derren Brown: Pushed to the Edge

Episodes like White Bear (2013) and White Christmas (2014) of Black Mirror (2011) portray a dystopian society in which people convicted of crimes are punished by harsh methods, Derren Brown: Pushed to the Edge (2016) is a kinda of a similar idea for an episode where people who end up "pushing" are prosecuted to ensure the public safety.

Derren Brown is incredible at what he does. I am a fan of pretty much anything he has done. This feature is very interesting and entertaining. My only real criticism is that there isn't much of Derren performing his own illusions. He obviously designed the experiment and keeps it on the right track. His job in this is mostly limited to presenting and narrating. You don't really get to see him perform very much. For this reason, I would not say it is his best release. However, the concept of the experiment is very interesting and it is executed very well. He basically figured out a way to do 'Weekend At Bernie's' in real life, which is hilarious. Not only that, he even named the character Bernie and made him wear sunglasses. None of the participants noticed which made it even funnier. This really is very entertaining. Derren is the best.

The Guardian newspaper calls it patronising, among other things. I thought the narrative kept as grounded as spectators.

This show has parallels to The Hunger Games, except it's very real. I did feel bad for the unwitting participants but I also found it fascinating constantly telling myself I would have acted sooner to end it all.

The thing is, unless you're in that situation you'll never know.

Ethically it's certainly questionable and by watching it are we ironically the very thing the show is telling us not to be.

As a social conditioning experiment, I found this very interesting! As a human mental health experiment, I truly hope they were plants.

Seriously disturbing, yet very compelling.

While the ethics of this "experiment" are certainly questionable, it's still tremendously entertaining for outside viewers. By the end, my friend and I were both on the edge of our seats, hands trembling, as we awaited the climax. My only complaint was that some aspects of it were explained by the narrator a little too late (one instance being at least 15 minutes after the initial showing of the trick), but it didn't make the show any less exciting.