1
Hello, my name is Derren Brown
and I started my TV
and stage career in Britain
performing a psychological form of magic,
which, over the last couple of decades,
has led to a deep curiosity
as to what it is to be human.
And the show you're about to watch
is a genuine experiment
into social compliance,
involving an unwitting
member of the public
who has no idea he's
taking part in a TV show.
And the question
we're considering is simple -
can we be manipulated
through the familiar forces
of social pressure to commit murder?
Welcome to The Push.
Pick up the phone
and do exactly as we rehearsed.
[line rings]
Good morning. Bakehouse.
Greg speaking. How can I help?
This is Detective Inspector Monroe
of the Hertfordshire Constabulary.
Is there a lady there around 25,
er, slim build, she has her hair
in a plait, with a big red pram?
Erm, bear with me just a second, please.
Thank you.
Yes, there is.
OK, that woman is a known child abductor.
That is not her baby.
Now, we have to get her away from the pram
and I'm going to need your help, OK?
OK.
OK, thank you, Greg.
Do you have a mobile phone?
Yes.
Could you give me the number, please?
[bleep, bleep]
Don't hang this line up, but I'm gonna
call you on your mobile as well, OK?
I'm just calling you now.
Hello, Greg.
It's Detective Inspector Monroe again.
Keep talking to me on the mobile.
Take the landline and place it
next to the coffee machine.
Yep.
Now what I'd like you to do now
is go over to the woman
and tell her that there's a telephone
call for her on the landline.
OK? Now I want you
to stay with the pram, OK?
OK, I can do that for you.
Thank you.
Excuse me, I've got a phone call for you.
Oh, OK.
Er, phone's over there.
Take the pram, go straight out.
We need to get the baby to safety.
Just go straight out of the caf.
Keep walking. Head towards
the main street and keep walking.
Pretty interesting for me
to be doing, to be honest.
Keep walking.
I'm outside now
but this looks pretty strange.
I've got someone's baby!
I am not happy about this.
Tom, you've just persuaded
a stranger to steal a baby.
So, go on, how you feeling?
- That was horrible.
- Was it?
- That was horrible.
- OK, well...
Well done for pushing him into it.
Although, of course, what
we've got planned will be a lot worse.
The person you just saw making
the phone call isn't really a policeman.
He's an actor.
So is the woman in the caf
and that baby was just a lifelike replica.
But the caf worker was real
and didn't know any of this
until my team caught up with him
and explained.
- It's not even a real baby.
- I know! I couldn't see.
I was in such a [bleep] panic.
It's surprisingly easy
for someone to pretend
to be an authority figure,
like a policeman,
and order a complete stranger to do
something they would never normally do.
This is an extreme example of
social compliance, following orders,
doing something because someone else
says it's the right thing to do.
Authority can come from a person,
from a group of like-minded individuals,
or from an ideology.
Don't be too nice.
It can be used to preserve public order,
but it can push people
to commit terrible acts.
Social compliance is part of life.
Evolution has taught us that
it's safer to be one of the crowd,
but its dangers are worth being aware of,
now more than ever.
So I've designed an experiment
to investigate the limits of this
trait of human nature and it's this -
can social compliance be used
to make someone push
a living, breathing human being
to their death?
In order to stage this experiment,
I needed a team with specific skills.
Special effects artists.
Hi, Dave, really lovely...
A stunt coordinator.
So I've got this project in mind...
And a troop of professional actors.
So, basically, we're trying to persuade
somebody to kill someone?
Yes, exactly, that's what we're doing.
Then I needed an impressive venue.
And a credible cover story.
Hello, I'm David Tennant and I am
delighted to be supporting PUSH tonight
and all the extraordinary work
that they do.
The setting for the experiment
is the grand launch of
a new youth charity called PUSH,
attended by high-powered VIPs
and rich benefactors.
The highlight will be
a charity auction to raise funds.
I've even persuaded some famous faces
to record well-wisher messages.
Here to support PUSH.
PUSH does some amazing work.
It's a new charity and it needs a push.
Everything here is designed to feel like
an important high-pressure gala event.
Of course, this is all fake.
There are more than 50 cameras
hidden throughout the venue.
70 actors will be playing out
a meticulously planned
and rehearsed scenario.
And I'm guiding them all via earpieces
from a hidden room in the building.
OK, ready, everyone? Here we go.
This show is about how readily we hand
over authorship of our lives every day
and the dangers of losing that control.
Here he is. Here he comes.
Hello. Can I help?
- Matt and Chris.
- Matt and Chris.
Oh, hi, I'm Alex.
I'm the deputy director of PUSH.
They're about to come in, Tom.
All of this has been put into place
to manipulate this man,
who has no idea he's being filmed.
He's here to meet with the organiser
beforehand and network during the event.
Gentlemen, how are you?
Hey, Matt, it's good to see you.
I'm so glad you came. Chris!
- How are you? You alright?
- Good to see you, man.
Guys, I'll get you a drink.
This is Chris Kingston.
He's a 29-year-old bachelor
and co-director of a printing
and design company.
He's a decent, ordinary guy
who's broadly happy with his lot in life.
He's a bit of a tech geek and says
the best things in his life are his job
and his friends.
On first appearances,
not the kind of person
you'd think would push a man off a roof.
Chris is here
with his business partner, Matt,
who's in on the experiment
and is now going to leave...
Sorry, can I use your phone?
My battery's gone.
..taking Chris's phone on the way out.
It's alright, something's
just happened at home.
- Sorry about this.
- No problem.
- Yeah, um...
- Cheers, man.
So our first compliance moment
is about to happen.
Now bear in mind,
this is gonna build to the point
that Chris is told to push
someone off a roof,
but we start with some sausage rolls.
- When we met...
- Hi, Tom, sorry to bother you.
Got a bit of a problem with the caterers.
So the meat canaps are here,
but the vegetarian canaps are,
for some reason, on another car.
- So sorry. I'll leave that with you, OK?
- Ah, that's alright.
No, no, I'll tell you what,
I've got a buck on an easy one.
Do me a favour. Chris, you just take
half of these, stick them on there.
Yeah, that'll do.
The hope here is that Chris will happily
follow Tom's first order of the evening,
involving those little flags
with "vegetarian" written on them.
Mate, see these veggie flags?
Just stick the flags in there.
- Gimme a couple as well.
- Really?
Is he doing it?
Yay! Well done.
He didn't make anything of it. He quite
happily mislabelled the sausage rolls
as vegetarian when they're not
and he knows full well they're not.
So this is known as
the "foot in the door" technique.
You do someone a small favour,
and then you're more likely to do them
a bigger favour later on.
These guys are gonna be steaming drunk.
They're gonna not notice the difference.
Although Chris thinks he's here
on business to make new contacts,
he's actually here because he replied
to my casting Tweet two months ago.
Over 2,000 people applied
to be on my new TV show.
Including Laura.
It just seemed like a good thing to do,
to kind of get myself out there and do
something that I've never done before.
Martin.
Part of my job is like, sort of,
trying to help people,
not in the sense of caring but it's like,
you know, explaining stuff to people.
Hannah.
So I just thought apply, why not?
I don't normally do things that are...
put myself out there,
so it's a little bit different.
And Chris.
Never really applied
for anything like this before.
To be fair, a little bit nervous.
Two dozen finalists were invited back on
separate days to fill out some paperwork,
but they were actually
taking part in a compliance test.
The three people on the left are actors.
They've been briefed to stand
or sit when they hear this...
[bell rings]
Everyone else that's brought in
is a genuine shortlisted applicant.
They've been given no instructions,
other than to fill out their forms.
My team and I were secretly
watching from another room.
[bell rings]
[bell rings]
[bell rings]
The more socially compliant a person is
the more they're likely to look to others
for signs of how to behave.
This is gonna be your spot.
And the more people,
the greater the pressure to join in.
In this case, whether to stand...
[bell rings]
..or sit.
[bell rings]
Those people that
didn't follow the crowd...
[bell rings]
[bell rings]
..were removed.
I think we have to lose Amy, sadly.
Amy.
Come with me.
Once we had a full house...
we got rid of the actors.
[bell rings]
Leaving us with a room
full of compliant people...
- [bell rings]
- ...standing up and sitting down...
even though nobody
told them to do this.
[bell rings]
Hello.
Hi.
Final four.
Hannah.
Laura.
Martin and Chris.
- I think he's the favourite.
- Yeah.
He's the man.
And then we told everyone that applied,
including Chris,
that they hadn't been selected for
the show, so nobody suspected a thing.
The experiment has begun.
Chris is about to meet
the key VIP guest, Bernie.
Hello.
- Sorry to interrupt again. Bernie's here.
- Oh, he's here, is he?
Do you want me to bring him through
or do you want to come and meet him?
Actually, give us two seconds,
we'll just be right there.
- OK.
- Thanks, Alex.
So this is a chance for you. Really
network with this guy, get to know him.
Yeah, definitely.
Because Bernie, not only has he donated
most of the lots for the auction,
um, he's also gonna give
the charity five million quid.
Oh, really?
Yeah, that's how serious
and important he is.
So we need to keep him sweet, yeah?
Without that five million quid
we don't have the centres
and thousands of kids
don't get their chance, OK?
Yeah.
- Ready?
- Yeah.
OK. In fact, leave that,
I'll get you another one.
Take this for me. I'll take that
and then there's a little, um,
table just on the outside here,
if we just pop it in.
So, if you just go to the left,
there should be a table there.
One that's clear, one that's clear.
Yeah, let's just stick them on there.
OK, this is Bernie.
- Bernie.
- How are you?
Oh, it's so good to see you.
No, you're welcome.
I'm here because I wanna be.
Erm, you've met Alex,
who's our deputy head of...
Yes. Would you move my car?
I'm blocking everybody.
- Just don't scratch it alright, love?
- OK, I'll try not to.
Now, Bernie, this guy, technical guru.
- Oh, right, yeah.
- This is Chris.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- You're IT, are you?
- Yeah.
- Right.
You might have noticed Chris isn't wearing
full evening wear like everybody else.
Now we intentionally didn't let him
know that this was a black-tie event,
so in his casual shirt he'll be feeling at
a lower status level than everybody else.
Can we get you...
Can we get you a drink?
- Yeah, what have we got?
- Erm, what do you want?
We've got wine, we've got champagne.
Erm, champagne would be
nice to kick off with.
That's great. Just a little nod from Tom
and Chris goes and gets the champagne,
which is so not his job
to be doing any of this.
Oh, God, don't have that! Thank you.
So he's seen Bernie take
one of those sausage rolls.
He's not said anything, which
means he's now sort of in cahoots,
in a tiny way, in a little
sort of deception with Tom.
So again, this is
the thin end of the wedge.
Erm, not long till we start. What
I'd like to do is just show you round,
get an idea of what we've done and
I really wanna take you up on the roof.
Chris, could you grab his bag for him?
Yeah, certainly.
These are only small acts of obedience,
mislabelling food as vegetarian,
being sent to get champagne,
picking up Bernie's bag,
but they'll gradually escalate
to the point where Chris
will be told to push someone off a roof.
Oh! They're just outside.
We'll have to wait.
The plan to get Chris here this evening
was set in motion
shortly after he was
selected at the bell test.
Actor Tom, playing
the director of the new charity,
approached Chris's business to
discuss making a fundraising app.
I'm Tom, Tom Monroe.
I'm the director.
- Chris.
- Nice to meet you.
The charity is called the Project
for Urban Social Happiness,
or, as we like to call it, PUSH.
The big thing is that
we're now building,
actually physically building,
these centres.
The point of this meeting
was for Tom to build a rapport
and to establish himself
as a high-powered executive
hearing a pitch for a business deal.
If we can give you an option 'A',
an option 'B', an option 'C'.
Obviously, 'A' being the full-blown,
all-singing, all-dancing...
And to invite Chris along to network
with VIPs at the big launch night.
I'd love to get you guys
along to the launch event.
Because if you could come to that,
all the other guys will be...
all the key guys will be there.
Gotta dash.
- Thank you very much.
- Lovely to meet you guys.
Chris has been dutifully following
Tom and Bernie around the venue,
going up to the roof overlooking
the proposed youth centre site.
Up there, Bernie met
the key charity people
who are relying
on his generous donation.
Actually, let me introduce you. Bernie.
- Erm, this is Eugene.
- Alright, Eugene.
Eugene is the head of the construction
company, does all our building.
- Bernie, hello, hi.
- Actually, Eugene...
- You need to meet this guy as well.
- Hi, Graham Dixon, CFO of PUSH.
For Chris, there's a little coincidence.
So Eugene's gonna make out
that they share the same surname.
- I'm Eugene Kingston, nice to meet you.
- Oh, Chris Kingston.
Little things like that give you a feeling
of connection, that's gonna be important
right at the very end.
He's also met a couple of technicians
who work for Eugene.
Erm, we've got Mark here and Ray.
Now while he was up there, he saw Bernie
climbing on the edge to have a cigarette.
- Mr Right, Mr Right...
- It's alright, don't push me!
It seems like a bizarre, dangerous
thing to do but it's really important
Chris sees him doing this
and remembers it later on.
- Alright, alright, alright!
- Thank you. Thanks very much.
The guys on the roof are gonna stay up
there to show arriving guests the view.
Right now, in the main auction room,
Chris is listening to Bernie
rehearse his speech,
which he'll be giving shortly
to the full crowd.
I don't have any children of my own
and that is true, that is absolutely true,
but now, thanks to PUSH,
I feel like I have thousands.
- Can you...?
- Yeah, sure.
Then I'm gonna finish with a joke.
What is big and bouncy
and disappoints a lot of children?
- I dunno, Bernie.
- No, no, don't, don't...
I haven't f... What is big and bouncy
and disappoints a lot of children?
It's my cheque if it bounces.
That is the joke and he's laughing
and you're not.
No, I'm sorry.
My fault, I interrupted you.
Fuck it, I'm...
Look, Bernie, if you wanna just take
ten minutes, there's a little office here.
- There's some water in the office as well.
- Yeah, that'd be nice.
Chris, could you take his jacket and
his bag and just stick it in the office?
Chris is now being completely subservient.
He's following orders...
carrying bags, even laughing
at Bernie's bad jokes.
So this is exactly where we need him.
He's in just the right place
for what's going to happen.
All the lots for the second half
of the auction.
So take your time,
we'll come and get you.
Chris and I will just go and
grab ourselves a quick drink.
No, no, no, no, no. Let me hang
onto Chris, in case I need to go...
So this is when things are
gonna start to get weird for Chris.
Bernie's gonna act increasingly
stressed and confused
to the point that something
terrible happens.
Have you seen the brochure?
I haven't yet, no...
- These are the things we're selling.
- OK.
A Victorian 18-carat gold bracelet,
opening bid 3,000.
Well, that can't be right for a...
Look at that...
Bernie, your Dictaphone, please,
be on your Dictaphone.
Sue, Sue...
I'm looking through the, um,
the... the PUSH auction catalogue
and all the...
The prices for a large Japanese vase
with handles, 1890c, opening bid 2,000!
That is... You can't charge 2,000.
OK. Do they have reserves?
I know it's a charity, but they're
supposed to take money in,
- not fucking give it away.
- Of course, yeah.
What? I don't understand
why everything is from...
- Oh, no, no, it's changed here.
- What?
- The opening bid on that is 20,000.
- Oh, that's more like it.
And the 18-carat gold,
the opening bid is 12,000.
Well, what's...
What the fuck is this then?
Probably an old crap revision.
I'll get rid of that.
No, I wanna...
Let's... have a word with, um...
- Tom?
- Tom.
Let's have a word with Tom.
This is rubbish. Just back me up.
Bring the other... no, leave all the stuff.
Leave it here?
Just tell him that's 20,000.
It's not 2,000, it's 20,000... Tom?
Yes, Bernie, sorry.
We've been looking at the brochure
and there's a lot we don't, um,
completely understand.
OK, here we go.
You've got two. You've got the right one.
Large Japanese vase and the opening...
It's 2,000 and you said it was 20,000.
The other one in there was higher.
There's a whole pile of them...
They're both 2,000.
You said it was 20,000.
Just let me go and check...
No, stay here.
Why is it, why is it wrong?
I wanna talk to the auctioneer.
I need to have a...
Bernie, you did talk to the auctioneer
and you helped him set these prices.
- I don't remember any of that.
- OK.
Unless you wrote it down,
it didn't happen, so I...
- It's on an email, Bernie.
- And where's my car?
- Your car?
- My car, because she took it and...
Yeah, Bernie, your car will be fine.
We'll bring it round after your speech.
And why? Somebody said a blue carpet
and it's completely... It's just the...
Bernie, Bernie!
Are you OK, Bernie? Bernie?
OK, Bernie. Bernie,
how can I help you, Bernie?
Pills, pills.
Pills, pills. Where are they?
Chris? Chris, I'll call an ambulance.
Look in his bag, look in his jacket!
Find the pills and bring them back.
[Tom] Bernie?
Is he dead?
He's dead, mate.
Have you called the ambulance?
- He's dead, mate.
- Yeah, I know, but still.
Just give us a minute.
Should you not perform CPR?
I know how.
I have tried. He's dead.
Are you going to call someone?
Hang on, hang on.
Just give me a second, give me a second.
Chris, take his bag, take his coat,
just put it back in the office.
Just give me breathing space here.
Sorry, Bernie.
Listen, there's 70 people
about to come in here, OK?
Take those two and
stick them up on the table.
Oh, God, his speech!
Just put them on the table.
Look, 70 people are coming in here.
They can't see this.
No.
Take his legs for me,
take him by the knees.
Come on, Chris, you need to help me.
Take him by the knees. Sorry, Bernie.
Have you got him?
- Uh-huh.
- You OK?
Yeah, we just need to
put him in the office.
We can't just leave him in the office!
Let's just get him out the way.
They've gotta get the body out the room,
so now he's dragging a dead body out
without questioning it, this is good.
Oh, God!
Sorry, Bernie.
Oh! OK, let's get him in.
Let's get him in.
Shall we put him on this thing?
Just put him here for a second. OK. Oh!
Should we put something
under his head or...?
Chris.
Yeah, yeah.
Well done, mate, well done.
OK.
Well, it's not what I've done, but...
What are we going to do?
Are we going to call someone?
Look, there's people coming in, OK?
Just calm down.
We will call somebody, just not now, OK?
OK.
We can't just leave him like this.
OK. Tell me what's in that crate, Chris?
- We can't put him in the crate.
- Tell me what's in the crate, Chris.
Erm, presents, presentations and...
Take whatever's in the crate, Chris,
put it on the table up there.
Please tell me we're
not putting him in the crate?
When it's all over,
we're gonna come back and get him.
We can't put him in the crate.
Chris, this is about the charity, this is
about the money, this is about the kids.
It's not about the money honestly. A man's
died tonight. We need to sort that out.
This is Bernie's legacy. He wanted to
help the kids. Now we need to do this.
All we're going to do is, we're gonna
leave Bernie here in some peace,
some quiet, with a bit of dignity
and then, after the auction,
I'll come back and I'll find him
and he'll just have had a heart attack.
The kids will have their money,
everybody will be OK, OK?
- Bernie's not OK and, honestly, I mean...
- Of course he's not.
Dignity is not in a crate.
Dignity is not in a crate. Please.
Look, Chris, Bernie's gone.
All we're doing
is making sure that everything
goes ahead tonight.
Who's going to give his speech?
They're going to expect to see Bernie.
Chris, open the crate for me.
Take his legs for me. OK, Bernie,
we're just gonna put you in here just till
the end of the auction. Here we go.
Here we go. This is just...
Gently put him in.
So now, bit by bit, we've reached a point
where Chris hides a dead body...
in a box and...
hasn't really been able to stop it.
So slowly we're just turning it up.
I'll go ahead and then
I'll come back and I'll get you, OK?
You say you'll phone the family...
What if they turn up?
What are we going to do about that?
Look, it's too late. I was about to phone
the ambulance and he'd gone, he's dead.
The ambulance will not help this.
- Stay with me, Chris...
- OK.
- Stay with me. OK?
- Yep, OK.
- Yep, yep.
- You're doing nothing wrong here.
OK? Bernie will be fine after the auction.
Alex, go in.
Oh, hi, Tom.
Nicholas is running a little bit late.
- OK.
- Erm...
He wants to know if it's alright
if he parks at the top car park.
- Er, yes, that's fine, yeah.
- Yep, that's absolutely fine, Nicholas.
Not a problem at all.
Yep, see you in a minute. Bye! Bye!
Just need to get this paper. We're having
a nightmare with the cars parked outside.
They seem to be backing up a bit.
Anyway, I've got it all.
Oh, gosh! I've got... I've just gotta sit
down for a minute, my feet are killing me.
I've got Bernie's keys here.
- I'll take them, yeah, cool.
- Very, very, very nice.
Tamara won't sit next to Veronica,
they had a fall out.
- "My boat's bigger than your boat." So...
- Look, Alex, deal with that. I can't...
Just don't mention Milan. They're sat on
table three, so don't mention Milan, OK?
- Fine, fine.
- OK, see you in a minute.
See you soon.
- Everyone's starting to come in.
- We're gonna go in soon.
You can see, he's absolutely, er...
just...
He's not happy.
Yeah, we'll just go through
to the auction now.
- [Alex] Honestly, it's not a problem.
- Tom, I'm so sorry.
- Nicholas, auctioneer.
- Bloody traffic.
- Hi, Nick!
- And parking, absolute...
You must be Bernie, hi.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Listen, can I talk to you?
So he's been mistaken for Bernie,
the dead guy,
and that seed of mistaken identity
is now going to grow.
- It's got so much together.
- Yeah.
In terms of the auction,
you choose what's right, OK?
If you could talk to Alex, she'll get
somebody to do that for you, OK?
- Got a couple of minutes to get ready?
- Yeah, yeah, go on.
- OK, I'll see you in a minute, Tom.
- Thank you.
I mean, he does know I'm not Bernie?
Well, just play along, OK?
Nobody knows what Bernie looks like.
Still I... I can't be Bernie.
- He's just made a mistake, OK?
- Alright.
He's just made a mistake,
nothing else. Ready?
- Ready.
- OK, let's just...
Hold it together, OK?
Because I need to hold it together.
I'm going to be sat next to you, right?
Of course you are.
I'm not gonna leave you.
[gentle classical music plays, chatter]
So the auction is about to start.
Chris has helped Tom
drag Bernie's body into an office
and put it inside a box.
Not only that, he's just been
mistaken for Bernie
and is understandably concerned
that that might be an issue,
cos he doesn't want to pretend to be
Bernie, the guy that's dead in the box.
And they've just gone through
into the auction
and, er, things are gonna
continue to escalate for him.
Chris needs to try and act normal
in a room full of high-status guests
and they're all there
for a specific purpose.
People are more likely to be
swayed by social compliance
in a room full of strangers.
We'll do anything to fit in.
[TV] PUSH, committed...
to improving the lives
of many young people
suffering from hardship
in today's society.
It's great that they're encouraging people
to come out of their comfort zone
and try new things.
Thank you, PUSH, for the amazing work
you do changing the lives of so many
disadvantaged kids and teenagers.
Hello, I'm David Tennant
and I am delighted
to be supporting PUSH tonight and
all the extraordinary work that they do.
So a number of celebrities
have given us endorsements
and well-wishes for the event.
They are aware that it's a fake charity.
They know, er...
They know that it's not real.
Most of these famous people
have been guests on my TV shows
and I wonder if Chris
will make the connection.
But they add prestige
and put even more pressure on Chris
to keep quiet and just
go along with things.
We can make this country
a better place to live in.
It's a new charity and it needs a push.
It's about young people and
it's about trying to spread happiness
in urban communities where
happiness is in very short supply.
Hi. My name's Griff Rhys Jones
and I just wanted to say
good luck!
Hi, everyone! I just wanted to say...
a massive good luck tonight
on the launch night of PUSH.
PUSH is such a wonderful organisation
and the charity works so hard.
It literally helps transform the lives of
people who need their lives transformed.
So, yeah, go for it.
Good luck in all your endeavours and,
remember, so do whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes.
PUSH, whatever it takes.
- Whatever it takes.
- W hatever it takes.
PUSH, whatever it takes.
I need to make a quick speech now,
but I'll be straight back, OK?
- What, there?
- After this I'll be straight back.
Whatever it takes!
[music plays]
[cheering and applause]
Hi. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
A huge thank you for all of you
coming tonight.
I'd like you to drink lots,
spend more.
I won't say much more. I'm gonna
put you in the hands of the professional,
who'll give us an entertaining evening
and that's our auctioneer, Nick.
[applause]
Thank you very much you, Tom.
Cheers, mate.
Thanks very much.
Thank you, Tom. Tom Monroe!
Well, good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
My name's Nicholas Lumley. I've been
a professional auctioneer for many years
and the quality of the lots tonight
in this catalogue is quite unbelievable.
And there's one person in this room
who we really have to thank for that.
He's a very shy person. You probably won't
know him. It's very unlikely you know him.
Very much keeps to himself and
we're very lucky that he is tonight,
Mr Bernie Right, ladies and gentlemen,
he's is in the room.
Bernie Right is over there. I'm sure we'd
like to give him a huge round of applause.
Bernie.
- [cheering and applause]
- Stand up, do it.
That... That's... That's brilliant.
Bernie wants to come up, apparently,
and say a few words about why
he has decided to make this huge gesture,
what it means to him.
- I've got his speech.
- [Nick continues speaking]
No, I can't read them.
Just read it out.
Just read it out. Just go up, read
out the speech and come back down.
Just read out the speech,
word for word.
OK? Just read out the speech.
[Nick] Whatever it takes! [laughs]
This is a really tricky moment for Chris
and you might wanna consider
what you would do in this situation.
Would you bring the whole event
crashing to an embarrassing halt
or would you pretend
to be the main benefactor
who you know is dead in the next room?
[Nick] So I want you to give a very,
very fantastic round of applause
and welcome to Mr Bernie Right,
ladies and gentlemen!
[applause]
Er, good evening, everyone.
Er, slightly nervous so, erm,
please bear with me.
Er, I don't... I don't very often stand up
in front of crowds such as yourselves.
[clears his throat]
I see that many of you
are happy to see me, that's good.
[laughter]
I assure you that I'm here for a reason
and not just to open my chequebook
and allow you to fulfil your
contracts and get the centre built.
So the first few pages
are all written out word for word.
I don't have any children of my own yet.
I'm reasonably young still,
hopefully, you know.
Er, but thanks to PUSH, I do feel
that I've now got thousands.
[audience] Ah!
And now it just goes
to two bullet points -
"tell the banana anecdote"
and "joke to finish".
Erm...
Erm...
So, hopefully, erm, if I can just
finish on a joke maybe.
Erm...
What's round and disappoints,
er, thousands of children?
Hopefully, not my cheque if it bounces.
[laughter]
So, anyway, erm...
Thank you very much, erm...
And, yeah, please dig deep
for the cause, it's great. Thank you.
[applause]
Mr Bernie Right, ladies and gentlemen.
Well, without further ado let's get on
with the auction. We've got about 25 lots.
Shouldn't take too long,
stick with me.
I've got my able assistant here, Holly,
who's gonna be working her socks off.
- She's gonna come round and get...
- That was amazing.
OK.
And who would like to start me
at 2,000, please? 2,000 for this.
By standing up
and making the speech,
he's acknowledging himself as Bernie.
It's a huge lie.
And it's so difficult for him to extricate
himself. It's happening bit by bit.
And now he's in way too deep.
At 5,000!
Going, going, gone!
Lot number one,
ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.
Now it's time for the surprise lot
at the auction.
Now, ladies and gentlemen,
we're gonna have a bit of fun,
because we're gonna
have a mystery item.
We like to do this at the auction.
And we're gonna bring on a mystery box.
This is a chance for anyone who
wants to have a bit of bid to have a go.
We'll start quite low, alright? So if
you haven't been at an auction before...
Where are they going?
[Nick] First bidder, put your hand up.
[Tom] Wait... Chris
Wait.
Fucking hell.
[Nick] The first mystery box is coming on
and it's got something lovely in it.
It isn't just balloons or feathers
or something like that.
There's something really
worth bidding for in this.
Wait.
Oh, fuck!
Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom...
Chris, stay calm.
Right, ladies and gentlemen,
in the box here now is a mystery.
I promise you it's worth bidding for.
So who would like to start?
We need to win the box, OK?
I can't bid because it's my charity.
You bid for it, I'll pay for it.
OK? We need to win that box, clear?
OK.
One five, one five, two. At 2,000.
2,000. Two five, two five. 3,000.
Are you bidding, madam, at the back there?
3,000. I'll take 3,500.
It's a nice lot this. Are you all out?
New bidder at the back. 4,000.
Five. It's our patron. At 5,000...
It's fine, it's fine.
It's good, it's good.
6,000 with you there, sir.
7,000. Bernie's bid 7,000.
Thank you very much indeed.
7,000, 7,000.
And eight. At 9,000!
Now with Bernie. 9,000.
He's determined to have this.
At 9,000. Maybe he knows what's in it!
At 9,000.
The bid's with our patron. At 9,000!
It's sold to Bernie Right for 9,000!
[applause]
Are we going to be able to move it?
We going to move it?
Well, of course, now's the exciting bit,
ladies and gentlemen,
because we all want to know
what was in it, don't we?
- Do we wanna see what was in the box?
- [all] Yes!
Do we wanna open the box
and take the money?
[all] Open the box!
[all] Open the box, open the box!
- [audience claps along]
- Open the box, open the box, open the box!
Look, listen to me, do you remember
what was in the box in there?
Do you remember?
Just iPads, iPads!
Just peek in, say it's iPads. OK?
- That's all you have to do, peek in.
- He's coming! Hooray!
- [cheering and applause]
- Hooray!
- So here we are, so, open the box.
- Open the box!
Honestly, I don't wanna ruin
the surprise for everyone.
I think I'll keep it
as a secret for myself.
- [all] Aw! No!
- Sorry, sorry.
- Sorry.
- Open it!
OK, he hasn't opened it,
which is a bit of a pain.
Chris doesn't realise
this is a false alarm.
That isn't the box with Bernie inside.
That one is still in the office.
So this is the first time
he's refused to do as he's told.
Either way, he has to realise
that wasn't the box
and the body is still in the office.
[Nick] So without further ado,
let's move on.
- Well done.
- Those of you who wish you'd bought it,
we're gonna have another
mystery box in about 20 minutes.
But...
I can promise you, this one's
got something incredible in it.
We're leaving and we're gonna go
calmly, Chris. OK, calmly.
Let's go.
[Nick] 6,000 from the lady there.
6,000 from the lady there.
6,000. Six five anywhere?
Do I see 6,500 anywhere at all?
6,500. 6,500.
Oh, thank God! Oh, thank God!
Where did that come from?
Boxes.
It was a different box, clarify it.
Do you know what?
It's alright, it's alright.
There was another one under here.
Oh, Jesus Christ!
We can't leave it here, OK?
So here's what we're gonna do.
Keys, keys, keys. I've got his car keys.
Where did Alex say she left his car,
do you remember?
I have no idea. He said
he was blocking out the front.
OK, so it's somewhere out front.
Here's what we'll do.
Take the body, we'll put it in the car,
we'll make it look like he's
had a heart attack in the car.
So somebody will find him in the car.
We'll find him after?
- We'll find him, yeah.
- OK.
Much better.
Right, now, we can't carry him.
[Tom] Give me a second,
just give me a second.
I've got it.
There's a wheelchair out front, OK?
I'm gonna get the wheelchair,
bring it back in here.
We put him in the wheelchair,
take the wheelchair out.
Just looks like somebody's
not feeling too well. OK?
I'll be right back. Get the wheelchair.
I'll be straight back. OK, Chris?
Chris is now enmeshed in a web of lies.
And that's important.
I need him to feel like
there's only one way out
when he gets to the end of this journey,
when he's told to commit murder.
[Nick] 1,200.
1,200 bid.
OK?
- Holding up?
- Yeah.
Good man. Right.
OK, you got him?
Just in case anyone sees his eyes. OK?
Why would he wear shades indoors?
He's not feeling too good
and we'll wheel him out.
You push, I'll clear the path. OK?
I don't want to touch him,
but sort his clothes out.
Bernie, just gonna make you look
as dapper as you always are, OK?
One last journey, old pal.
Chris, deep breath.
The thing is, no one's going
to stop me en route?
- No one is gonna stop either of us.
- Or, potentially, touch...
Nice and slow.
Nice and slow, nice and steady. All their
attention is on the auction. Yeah?
[Nick] We've got an opening guide price
of 1,000 on this.
I think that's incredibly reasonable.
1,000 to get me going, please.
1,000. 1,000 bid. Thank you, madam.
At 1,000. 1,000.
Two. 2,000. Thank you, sir. 2,000.
- Two five. Two five. 3,000. Thank you.
- [mobile phone rings loudly]
[mobile phone rings loudly]
4,000. At 4,000.
You're all out of it at 4,000.
- 4,500!
- Just put it in your pocket!
4,500. A new bidder at the back. 5,000!
Gentleman in a wheelchair.
5,000. 5,000.
It's against you all.
I think we made a bid.
I'm going to sell then at 5,000!
6,000, thank you. Lady, new bidder.
6,000. The lady's come in at 6,000.
The gentleman's gone. At 6,000, 6,000.
Right, there's a few
stragglers outside so...
Oh, for fuck...
A few people just milling around, OK?
Come on.
What we'll do is, we'll put him here.
We can't leave him in the wheelchair.
Somebody may think he's disabled and help.
So we're gonna put him on the sofa.
We're gonna make it look like
he's had a bit too much to drink.
Then we'll go and get the car,
bring it round to the front,
and then we'll carry him out, OK?
We can't get the wheelchair
through there. OK, a revolving door.
That's a safety issue then, if you can't
get a wheelchair out the front.
I know, it's bloody ridiculous!
Chris, just put that beside there,
just tuck it away.
Bernie, we'll back in a second, OK?
Then we'll take you to your car, OK?
Cue drunks.
[Chris] Who are they?
OK, these guys are no one.
They're harmless, OK? They're lads.
A bit lairy, they've just had a few.
- OK? Dave!
- Tom, how's it going?
- You alright?
- How are you, man?
Yeah, mate, good to see you!
Have you met Ben?
Ben's my boy. How you doing?
Great night, great night.
You boys have had a few to drink,
haven't you, eh?
- Let's have a hug, man.
- Oh-ho-ho-ho!
- He's been, er...
- Has he? Oh.
Look at him! Hey, look at him!
Lads, he's just had a bit
too much to drink, that's all.
Alright, mate?
No, leave him, leave him, leave him.
- Mate...
- He's alright.
[conversation continues]
Chris, they're harmless. Play along.
I'll get the car, you get him
round the front, OK? Play along.
They're harmless.
Let's get a picture. You take a picture.
No, no, no.
Listen, listen, listen.
No, no pictures.
- Here you are.
- Yeah, take a picture.
No pictures, no pictures.
No pictures.
Listen, listen, let go!
It's alright, calm down!
I'm not being funny but you
two are pissed out of your face,
you wouldn't want someone
to see that picture.
Alright, mate. Fair play, fair play.
- Alright?
- [laughter]
Is he your dad? Is he your dad?
- No.
- He's your brother?
What if it was your dad,
how would you feel?
Alright, mate. Fair point, fair point.
Fair play. One picture. One picture.
Yeah?
He framed him out. He's framed
him out of the picture, that's brilliant,
He doesn't want any incriminating evidence
so he framed Bernie out of the photograph.
Now you may be thinking that Bernie has
been doing an amazing job playing dead.
That's because that's not Bernie.
Are you OK, Bernie? Bernie?
Pills? Where are we? Pills?
Where are they?
Chris! Chris, I'll call an ambulance.
Look in his bag, look in his jacket.
Find the pills and bring them back!
Bernie?
Switch the body. Switch the body now.
I knew that whoever ended up
being picked for this experiment
had to be completely convinced
they were dealing with a dead body.
Is he dead?
He's dead, mate.
It had to not only look right but feel
right and handle like a real corpse.
So two months ago...
Hi.
I enlisted the help of Oscar-winning
special effects artists
Lou and Dave Elsey from Igor Studios.
For this experiment to work,
dead Bernie had to be completely
convincing to the naked eye.
So every nook, cranny and wrinkle
on Simon the actor's face
was moulded then covered
in plaster bandages.
- Should pop out. There we go!
- Oh, well done.
- That's you in negative.
- The weight is amazing.
- Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?
- I hadn't expected that.
Every detail was moulded,
including Simon's limbs.
Nothing boring about this!
His buttocks, the ears,
even the inside of his mouth.
OK, OK, OK.
Spit it out if you want to.
- Sorry.
- It's alright, it's OK. We can go again.
- That's him, isn't it?
- Yeah, this is him.
Basically, cast out in clay.
And since we talked last,
I've been thinking about it and, er,
I think I'm in more of a panic now
than I was before.
We don't have any room for error
and, er, yeah...
- This is keeping me up at nights.
- Mm.
- Yeah, you too, good.
- [chuckles]
Our things usually
only have to look right.
Nobody knows what it feels like.
One of my thoughts is that
you want to have tendons, veins,
- everything?
- Yeah.
Well, we'll figure it out.
Of course, it's the level of detail.
It's how all that feels natural,
feels like skin and feeling the bones
and the weight of all that being...
realistic, it's just...
It's a level of detail I hadn't really,
kind of, taken on board.
Simon's hair growth was photographed,
so it could be individually matched
and inserted on the realistic
silicone and latex skin.
[Lou] I'll put a little bit of hair
in the ears and up the nose.
All those little things, those
little details really, sort of, add
another layer, erm, to convince.
Finally, after two months of work,
we took delivery.
It is absolutely unbelievable.
Seeing yourself in the mirror is...
It's like a Pot Noodle to a banquet,
it's nothing at all.
It doesn't prepare you for
three-dimensional perfection.
It's a first in the history
of special effects,
a life-size human replica
that moves right, feels right...
And you can feel the bones underneath.
..and looks perfect.
That would convince anybody. I mean,
I'm inches away and I'm totally convinced.
Hey, come on, lads! Come on,
you've had enough for one day.
Come on, let's get back into the auction.
Spend some money, yeah?
Come on, move on, move on.
Let's go. OK, you've had a good night.
Bye, lads. Thanks very much.
Cheerio. Right, all the best.
Who are they?
They're just fucking...
I can't find the car, OK?
Can't find the fucking car. I've been
everywhere. I've been fucking pissed...
Tom, Tom, Tom, calm down.
Calm, calm, calm.
- Water.
- It's alright, it's alright.
- I've got a much better idea, OK?
- Mm-hmm.
Much better. We're gonna take him and
place him at the bottom of the stairs.
Why?
It makes it look like he's fallen
at the bottom of the stairs.
No, I don't like that idea.
Look, there's nothing else we can do. We
can't go that way, we have to go that way.
The only thing we could put him
in there is the bottom of the stairs.
Let's argue about it when we get there.
Get him in the chair and let's take him.
When everyone's gone,
we'll find him and it'll be fine.
When everyone's gone, you and I
are going... I'm a cigarette smoker.
We'll go round the back,
"Oh, here's Bernie!" Let's go.
Come on, Bernie. Come on, Bernie.
OK, right.
Chris, you push again,
I'll clear the path.
Let's go.
Shouldn't be anybody around here,
but we'll take it easy, just to be sure.
Well done.
You take your time.
I'll just scoot ahead, make sure.
OK, let's go.
Chris, if we do this, we're done.
OK, we do this, we're fine.
But I mean, this isn't
the best place to put him.
Look, I've got a lot going on
in my mind right now.
We need to solve this problem.
This is how we solve it.
So, let's... Get his legs again.
Let me just get hold of his arms.
Come on, Bernie.
OK. OK.
Let's put him down, OK?
Let's just put him there, like that.
Put him on his side, put him on his side.
There we are. There we go. OK.
Come on. Come on.
Come on.
Right.
So, what's happened is...
Let me get it clear, let me get it clear.
He wasn't feeling well. He's toppled
off the steps, he's fallen down,
he's had a heart attack.
Hang on, hang on, hang on.
If he's fallen down the stairs, there'd
be bruises on him, wouldn't there?
No!
We're gonna have to put
some bruises on him.
No, no, no, no.
But there would be if he fell
at the bottom of the stairs?
No, he might have had
a heart attack... fallen.
It won't hurt him.
This is important, it won't hurt him.
Look, he's dead.
Yeah, that's fine.
He's not gonna feel anything.
Just kick him, quickly.
No, no.
OK, I was just trying to
think it through here, OK?
- He's fine there.
- Yes.
Try it again. It won't hurt him. Just try
again. It won't hurt him, he's dead.
Look, just kick him in the stomach,
quick. It won't hurt him.
No, no, no, you're not touching him.
I know that. I promise you.
Fine. OK.
- No one's touching him.
- Take the chair.
OK, so obviously we were hoping there
that he would kick the body
to put the bruises in,
which he hasn't done.
Which is the second time now
that Chris hasn't done
what we wanted him to do.
So he may not even do this now,
I don't know, but good for him.
Do you know the guys
from the roof earlier on?
- You met them?
- Just out the front.
So as we go past,
we just say a quick hello.
They know who I am.
So the people that Chris met earlier on,
they've been up on the roof all evening,
so they haven't seen him
pretending to be Bernie, of course.
- Hi, guys.
- Oh, hi.
Hi. Hey, you guys remember
Chris from earlier?
- I do, definitely. How you doing?
- Eugene, Alex, Graham.
- Are you OK?
- Hi, Chris, how you doing?
- Are you Tom?
- Yes.
Oh, hi, I'm Nicky. I'm Bernie's wife.
- Oh, good to meet you.
- And you. I've heard a lot about you.
Where is Bernie? I've been trying
to get hold of him all evening.
- He's just popped out for a cigarette.
- Oh, has he?
I just want to speak to him.
I'm meant to be in town meeting friends
and he's not answering
any of his calls.
Is there something I can help with, Nicky?
- Can you get him to take these pills?
- Yeah.
- He was meant to take them 20 minutes ago.
- Pills for what?
It's like a kind of sleeping sickness.
If he has an attack,
he goes a bit white, he's a bit clammy,
his pulse slows right down.
He looks awful. I mean, you know,
he looks a bit dead, really.
But, let's be clear,
he's... he's still alive?
Yes, of course! So just put him
in a comfortable position.
If he has one.
He probably won't have one.
How many does he take, sorry?
- Sorry, Nicky, how many does he take?
- Two.
- Two?
- Just two, yeah.
OK, bye! Bye!
The wife dropping the bombshell
that Bernie isn't dead after all
will now accelerate events to that
final moment of compliance on the roof.
- Tom, are you OK?
- Fuck's sake, man!
- Are you...? Tom?
- Look, guys...
Look, just, just...
I can't do this anymore. Come with us.
- I'll explain what's happened.
- Tom, what is going on?
Just come with us,
I'll explain what's happened.
- OK, OK, let's go. He's...
- What exactly is going on?
- Oh, I don't know.
- Chris?
They're going round to find the
body and explain what's gone on.
You've got me feeling very nervous.
Chris, we're gonna need these guys.
- Mm-hm.
- Tell them everything.
Everything that's happened
tonight, just tell them.
What, now?
- Yeah. Tell them everything.
- Tell us what?
OK... So...
I think you... Can you just explain it?
Chris, tell them everything.
We're gonna need them.
So... er, I got introduced to Bernie,
obviously a lovely man.
And he had an attack, which
we assumed because of his age
and his health problems, was a heart
attack. So, unfortunately, Bernie...
We thought Bernie had passed away.
Which is horrendous.
This is terrible, terrible. But, erm...
Erm, so we decided that, obviously,
you know, such a big event...
"We decided," he said. "We decided."
He's implicating himself.
So I pretended to be Bernie.
I really...
I don't know what to say.
I'm really, really, really sorry.
So where is Bernie now?
Where is Bernie now?
So we went back in the office and
moved Bernie, put him in a wheelchair.
We've put him at the bottom of the stairs.
Now, unfortunately, the only reason
we done that is because, er,
we thought it'd be best if,
if he was found in a natural way.
Me and Tom are gonna come back and deal
with the whole thing, with paramedics...
- OK, OK.
- No one's done anything wrong here.
It's absolutely fine. But now
we've learnt that he's had this attack.
- So we need to get him his pills.
- Give him his pills, give him his pills!
- Are you fucking kidding me?
- Oh, is this a joke?
- Is this...? Is this some....?
- Come on! Wait a minute, wait a minute.
- Chris.
- What is going on?
We left him here, didn't we?
We left him here.
What is going on? Is this a joke?
Because it's not funny.
- Where is Bernie?
- We left him here.
Chris, we fucking left him here,
didn't we?
[Bernie] I'm up here, you bastards!
Kick him in the stomach!
- Put him in a trunk!
- Bernie!
[door slams]
The roof, the roof, let's go!
Are you sure he's going to the roof?
OK, alright.
Everything that's happened
in this experiment
has been very carefully choreographed.
Chris has been put into a compliant state
by being given small menial tasks.
He's been pressured by the head
of a charity to move and hide a body.
And has now admitted responsibility
to the PUSH board members.
His actions have potentially
landed them in a lot of trouble
and put the charity at risk.
OK, let's go, come on, come on.
Bernie.
Bernie.
Put him in a box!
Kick him in the stomach!
I'm so sorry, Bernie.
You left me for dead!
[Derren] OK, here we go.
I'm not giving you a penny!
I heard every fucking word!
- [Tom] Kick him in the stomach, quick!
- Kick him! Kick him! Fuck you!
You're my witness,
you're my witness!
Calm down.
- No, I'm going for a fucking cigarette!
- Here, here, here.
And fuck your health and safety.
Fuck you! Give me a cigarette!
- Cigarette. Give me a cigarette!
- Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.
Guys, guys, come here, come here,
come here, come here!
What the fuck did you do?
- Only what he told me.
- Ssshhh. Not so loud!
You guys are going to prison,
do you know that?
You're going to jail,
do you understand that?
He's a millionaire.
He's gonna make sure you go to jail.
What are we gonna do? Look,
I'm not losing out on that contract.
And I've got four crews
that need to be paid!
The charity is done, Tom,
do you understand?
He's gonna fucking sue us
and we'll lose our jobs.
- Come on, guys, what are we gonna do?
- I don't know.
- Oh, gosh!
- Have you given him his pills?
He needs to be careful
sitting on there. He'll fall off.
No, no, no. No, no, guys, guys.
I've go it. I've got it.
He came up here,
he had too much to drink...
He hasn't had the pills.
What does that mean? So what?
Oh, gosh!
An accident.
He had an attack, he had an accident.
- No.
- That's all.
What do you mean it's an accident?
His attack only makes him fall asleep.
It's not going to fucking kill him.
No, when he was dead, as you
thought he was, everything was fine.
It wasn't fine, it was far from fine.
Trust me, I was not fine.
Oh, really? Well, how fine do you think
you're gonna be in prison?
What did you do? Impersonate the man?
That was fraudulent!
- We need to make a decision.
- We do.
We have to be agreed on it.
We have to be agreed on it!
Come on!
No way. No, I'll go to prison.
I'll go to prison.
- You're going to prison, anyway.
- Trying to stop you from going to prison.
- Chris, this is the only way out.
- Trying to stop you from going to prison.
- This is the only way out.
- It's the only way, it's the only way!
We all stick to the same story.
- Same story, same story.
- OK, OK.
We're all in.
OK, OK, OK.
Alright, so who... so who's gonna do it?
Do what?
- It's obvious, isn't it?
- Who's going to do it?
- [TV] Whatever it takes.
- Do what?
- Chris, it's gotta be you.
- No, no, no, no, no.
It's gotta be you, Chris.
I don't know what the hell
you're even talking about.
We're talking about him
having an accident.
Don't need to worry, they work for me.
Just walk up to him,
put your hand on his back...
- Whatever it takes.
- ...and give one big push.
- You've gotta do it, Chris.
- Whatever it takes.
Just go up to him, put your hand
on his back and push.
Do it.
- No way. No, no, no, no.
- Whatever it takes.
- Listen, listen...
- Nope. No way.
- Whatever it takes.
- Whatever it takes, do it!
I'll go to prison. I am not doing it.
- Look, either you do it, or you leave.
- I'll leave.
I'll leave. I'll leave.
I'll even hold my hands up. I'm not...
No way. I'm sorry.
Sorry, but no way.
I'll leave.
Chris.
- Whoa!
- Hello. You alright?
- No.
- No. OK.
Calm yourself down. This was a show
about social compliance, alright?
How much people will just comply, how far
they can be pushed to assent and obey.
Whether it would get to the point you'd
actually push somebody off a building.
And you didn't. So well done!
- Oh, no!
- Come back up and say hello.
Well done, well done, that was amazing.
This is Simon.
Now I want to push you off the building!!
Chris reclaimed ownership
of his decisions.
But we didn't just do this with Chris.
Over the course of two days,
we ran this experiment four times.
- Glad to meet you.
- Thanks, Alex. Oh!
- Martin?
- Yeah.
- Hannah.
- Yes!
Are you sure there's no meat in them?
- Hardly any meat.
- Hardly any meat in it or there's no meat?
Yeah, stick them on.
I can't! My mum's a vegetarian.
Go on!
She would kill me
if I was doing this to her.
- Nice to meet you, Bernie.
- Right-hand woman, eh?
Indeed.
Before we start, can I get you a drink?
Hi, my name's Eugene Turkington.
How you doing? Nice to meet you?
I'm Eugene Speller. Nice to meet you.
I'm Eugene Wykes. How you doing?
- That's my surname too!
- You're kidding me! That's fantastic!
- ...When you get home tonight.
- I don't understand why everything is...
Bernie!
Bernie!
He's dead.
Take his legs for me. I'm sorry, Bernie.
Gonna give you a little bit
of peace now, Bernie.
Hannah, I need you to stay focused,
I need you to stay with me.
Nobody knows what he looks like.
Bernie, Bernadette.
You must be Bernie.
You must be Bernie.
You must be Bernie. Hi, hello.
I was given a banana
and I didn't want a banana,
so I pretended to eat it, er,
- but I just threw it in the bin.
- [laughter]
Thank you.
Need to put him on his side.
He'd have some bruising on him,
wouldn't he?
Exactly. Yeah.
Just kick him in the stomach.
I'll keep watch.
Good, OK. Grab the chair
and we're done.
Right, OK. Just one more, one more.
That should be enough. Just one more.
Go on, last one.
- I kicked him in the stomach.
- Oh, my God!
I didn't have a choice.
Bernie, so sorry, Bernie!
Kick him in the stomach?
You left me for dead!
I heard every fucking word!
Kick him! Kick him! Fucking kick him!
What the hell, are we...?
You kicked him? You kicked him?
What were you thinking?
He's going to send you to prison.
- Do you know that?
- You guys are going to jail, I mean...
I mean, it's fraud. Fraud.
We've gotta sort this. A moment ago,
when you thought he was dead, right,
it was all OK. Everything was OK, right?
Everything was OK.
- No. No, no, no.
- We need to make a decision.
- [TV] Whatever it takes.
- He came up here, he had an accident.
He had an accident.
All six, right. All six, right.
All six, right. Alright? OK?
Oh, my God!
- OK, alright.
- Yes, OK.
OK. I mean, who's gonna do it?
Well, it's obvious, isn't it?
- Hannah.
- Hannah, you asked what I can do.
This has gotta be you, Martin.
- It's just one quick push.
- Whatever it takes.
- Give him one big push.
- Whatever it takes.
- Whatever it takes, do it!
- [TV] Whatever it takes.
Just do it.
- Whatever it takes.
- Whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes.
- Whatever it takes.
- Whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes.
PUSH!
Fucking hell!
Alright?
I know, I know, horrendous. You alright?
First, he's fine, alright?
You need to see this.
Alright, can you see he's on a rope?
If you block the light there,
you might just about see
he's down there
getting unharnessed, alright?
Look, he's OK.
Alright?
[she cries]
It was staged to get you to that point
and then to see if you'd do it,
but understanding most people,
most people would.
I can't believe I went along with that.
I nearly didn't.
You nearly... Yeah, you paused.
I was watching you from over there.
You paused and then... Yeah.
Most people have pushed.
Most people have done it.
Alright. Give us a hug. Give us a hug.
Ah, just breathe.
Let's go down.
Say hello to everyone.
Have a drink.
I wasn't going to do it?
I very much follow rules.
I'm a very compliant person.
I don't think that will ever change.
That's bred into me.
But I think actually standing up
for myself a little bit more,
whether that's pushing things
that I wanna do a little bit more.
It's probably made me a bit more
of a stronger person like that.
I thought I was one of those people
that wouldn't be that person,
that I could, sort of, make a stand
and say, "No, I'm not gonna do that."
From now, what I'm gonna do is
try and live my life to the fullest
and not let other people influence me.
You can't always be on guard because then
you'll live your life constantly on edge,
which is not a good way to be,
but I think definitely
when certain situations
present themselves,
do think about it before you act upon it
and think, "What am I doing?"
This experiment wasn't about
who pushed and who didn't.
The point was it made the participants
act in a way that went against
their decent morals and values,
their personalities.
The point is, we are all profoundly
susceptible to this kind of influence,
whether it's driven by a peer group
or an ideology.
It's like we're handed someone else's
script of how to live,
but to carry out their beliefs
and achieve their ambitions.
But by understanding this,
understanding how we can be manipulated,
we can be stronger, we can say no.
No way. I'm sorry.
We can push back.