Paul Daniels dead: Re-live his surreal shopping trip with Louis Theroux

If you didn’t grow up on Paul Daniels’ (who died today) magic shows, chances are you best remember him for that intriguing BBC documentary, When Louis Theroux met Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee.

In a clip from it BBC Worldwide put on YouTube, Louis is seen wandering a shopping centre with Paul and having some odd encounters with fans.

“Who is Paul Daniels?” he asks a group of teenage girls - a question he spent weeks trying to answer for the doc and never fully came up with an answer.

Daniels was an eccentric character and endlessly fascinating in the film, particularly his relationship with Debbie McGee, who was by his side when he died this week.

Though it’s easy to judge celebrities through the lens of a Theroux doc, in the clip McGee highlights how strange it is to be the one being documented.

After initially being guarded, “he’s a bit more relaxed now,” she explains.

“Why?” Louis asks?

“I think because he was so worried - when you were first with him we didn’t know what you were going to be like. You worry about what you’re going to say, and, do you like us? We’re not your sort of people, so that’s…we thought you’d think we’re old fashioned and not into the things you’re into so he particularly, not me so much, felt ‘oh, we won’t be your sort of thing’.”