Dynamo on overcoming his illness (Image: Inner Circle Films)
In fact, at the height of his fame in 2016, the Bradford-born star was starting to believe he might be, too. “I’d just finished my arena tour Seeing Is Believing where I’d done 200 shows all over the world. I’d done magic to 12,000 people a night – I never thought that would happen in my wildest dreams. I’d come up with lots of new ideas for TV while I was touring, got a deal with Sky and started to make a show,” says the 37-year-old, whose real name is Steven Frayne.
But in June 2017, Dynamo, who has suffered from Crohn’s disease since his teens, got an abrupt wake-up call that threatened to derail everything.
After contracting severe food poisoning, he was rushed to hospital where he was put into isolation.
“I was quarantined for two weeks while they tried to find out what was going on inside me because they thought my illness was potentially contagious.
“Nobody could come in and nobody could go out. Because of that I only had my imagination – and my notebook,” he says.
So he got creative from his hospital bed, scribbling notes and ideas during his three-and-a-half week stay.
The result?
Sky’s bold new three-parter, Dynamo: Beyond Belief.
It’s a show that’s been four years in the making and comes after he was dealt a fresh blow – his Crohn’s disease has brought on severe arthritis in all his joints
Dynamo at the Sky Up Next 2020 at Tate Modern in London (Image: MATRIXPICTURES.CO.UK)
“Because of all the drugs I was taking I was having weird dreams and waking up in the middle of the night in sweats and writing them all down.
“Then the doctors told me that I might never be able to perform magic again,” he reveals.
“Never being a defeatist, I thought, ‘I’ll accept the fact that because I’ve developed arthritis I might not be able to physically perform like I used to but maybe I could put the magic into the audiences’ hands.’
“Throughout my medical journey I saw doctors every week, had different medications and went through rehabilitation with physios to strengthen my body.
“I got to a place where I almost had all of my original skill set back so I was able to combine that with my new ideas, which in some ways has made me a stronger performer.
“Eventually, when I was able to start getting myself better, these were the ideas that ended up becoming Beyond Belief.”
Across three episodes, viewers will watch open-mouthed as Dynamo travels the globe performing routines and stunts that have to be seen to be believed, including reading people’s minds, driving a car backwards while blindfolded and a show-stopping denouement that the magician is keeping tight-lipped about.
“I’m not cheap to insure. I do some crazy stuff,” he laughs.
“The finale is the riskiest thing I’ve ever attempted. Ever.
“And the closing trick of episode two is probably the most physically dangerous.
“I know my manager said he couldn’t watch. He said, ‘I had to look away. I couldn’t believe my friend was attempting this.’
Dynamo has fans hooked on his new show, Beyond Belief (Image: Inner Circle Films)
“It involves a car and we went and filmed at an illegal car meet-up like Fast & Furious.
“I love those films and have always loved cars.
“If I wasn’t a magician, I’d want to be a stunt-car driver – James Bond sequences and all of that.
“So I knew it was scary and dangerous but it was also a childhood dream of mine.
“If they ever want to put Dynamo as Bond, I’m there.”
The magic is interspliced with touching autobiographical moments detailing his medical journey, including the 999 call his wife Kelly made to paramedics and videos recorded from his hospital bed.
Together they create an emotional and special show that will be a career high, Dynamo says.
“There were times when it didn’t feel like this show was ever going to happen.
“A lot of times, even while making it, I’d wake up and nothing was working and I struggled to get out of bed.
“Even now I’m dealing with it. It’s never going to go away.
“I’m using different medications and things to cope.
“That’s why this show means so much to me. It means more than my last one, Dynamo: Magician Impossible, ever did,” he adds.
Although he’s still visiting hospital every eight weeks to be hooked up to a drip for eight hours, Dynamo is embracing life and all it throws at him, revealing the last few years have changed his outlook immeasurably.
“It’s made me slow down a little bit and I think that’s a good thing.
“The world can be quite fast-paced, especially living in London and being in the entertainment industry.
“We take so much for granted and never have time to savour moments.
“Having to put things on pause because of my illness means I enjoy the simpler things in life and really appreciate my family and friends.
“When you’re going onstage every night in front of loads of people and have adulation, it’s very easy to feel invincible.
Dynamo wows in his new TV show (Image: Inner Circle Films)
“But I had that well-needed thing of being brought back to reality.
“It’s made me a more well-rounded person,” he admits.
While Dynamo is keeping a new black book close by for whenever inspiration strikes, he still doesn’t quite believe that he, a kid who grew up on a Bradford council estate, has been able to carve out such an exciting and successful career.
He was brought up with his three siblings by their mother Nicky Goodwin after his father walked out.
But it was his great-grandfather, Kenneth Walsh, who served in the Navy during the Second World War, who taught him his first magic tricks.
“I’ve achieved more than I ever imagined, so I’m not really doing this for me any more,” he says.
“Now it’s about inspiring other people to go and follow their dreams.
“I know it sounds clichéd, but if a kid watches my show and then they go on in 10 years’ time to fulfill their dreams, as well as inspiring another 10 other people, it’ll be like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“My grandpa was my biggest inspiration. He was the person who showed me magic.
“If he hadn’t done that all those years ago, none of what I’m doing now would have happened.
“He passed away in 2012, so he’s not been around, but every time I’m performing, I’m keeping his legacy alive.
“When I was in hospital I had a realisation that I had an opportunity to reinvent the magic game and change what I used to do. I thought, ‘I have to do this, not just for me but for my grandpa.’”
• Dynamo: Beyond Belief can be seen on Sky One and NOW TV on Thursday.
