Not the real Winston Churchill, obviously. You do know that Seance was supposed to show off the way that spiritualists and mediums pretend they can speak to ghosts, right? That Ouija board didn't actually work? It was all about suggestion and stuff? No, we mean the actor Andy Nyman, most recently seen playing the British prime minister in period drama Peaky Blinders and previous star of films like Severance and Dead Set, where he memorably, ahem, "unloaded" in a waste paper basket whilst hiding from an undead Davina McCall. He's also the most unsung part of almost all of Derren Brown's productions, his closest collaborator, and the man who was supposed to "be" Brown before Derren himself showed up. Nyman, like Brown, comes from a background of stage magic and performance. It was he who was originally going to front the Channel 4 specials Mind Control but, having decided to concentrate on his acting, fellow magician and stand-up comic Jerry Sadowitz suggested Brown for the role. From there the two have collaborated on pretty much every live show and TV special Brown has done, with Nyman often co-writing or directing the productions. Smart and talented though Derren Brown is, he wouldn't have gotten his start were it not for Nyman, and we doubt he would've kept up his popularity without his friend's help. The actor also co-wrote the West End hit Ghost Stories with former League Of Gentlemen creator Jeremy Dyson, which employs a lot of familiar tricks and psychological taunts which leave audiences acting like...well, this.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
