In October 2003, David Blaine was approaching the end of one of his most widely discussed endurance performances: spending 44 days without food inside a transparent box near London’s Tower Bridge.
This archived BBC London News clip captures a moment from that period. According to the MagicWeek Video Archive, the broadcast aired live on October 17, 2003, with Emily Maitlis introducing the segment featuring Samantha Simmonds and Blaine.
That places the footage just two days before the conclusion of Above the Below—a useful piece of television history for anyone interested in how the event unfolded in public.
When an Endurance Performance Became Local News
Blaine began Above the Below on September 5, 2003, at Potters Fields near Tower Bridge. The announced challenge was to remain suspended in a clear enclosure for 44 days, drinking water but eating no food.
The location made the event accessible to people who might never purchase a ticket to a magic show. Visitors could walk past, stop to watch, and form their own opinions about what Blaine was attempting.
For a regional news program, it also provided an ongoing London story. A visiting American entertainer had made himself a conspicuous part of the city’s daily life.
The BBC clip offers a broadcast from within that unfolding event, before its outcome had become history.
A Divided Public Response
Contemporary reporting documented sharply different reactions to Blaine’s presence.
Some visitors expressed support. Others jeered, threw eggs, or used food and noise to taunt him. An Associated Press report also described an arrest after an alleged attempt to interfere with the water supply supporting the stunt.
Those reactions became part of the event’s public identity. People were debating endurance, entertainment, publicity, and the purpose of watching someone remain inside a box.
That makes footage from the time particularly interesting. It preserves the atmosphere surrounding the challenge while people were still deciding what to make of it.
Two Days Before the Ending
On October 19, 2003, Blaine emerged from the enclosure after completing the 44-day fast. Contemporary coverage described an emotional conclusion followed by his departure for hospital.
Our recent article on David Blaine’s Above the Below anniversary revisits that conclusion and the wider history of the stunt. This October 17 news segment provides a companion viewing opportunity: a moment close to the finish, with the final emergence still ahead.
Why Archive Footage Matters
Magic history survives through more than complete performances. Interviews, news reports, advertisements, and contemporary audience accounts help explain how an event reached the public.
A later retrospective can organize the story around its ending. A broadcast made during the event preserves something different: the uncertainty and attention of that particular moment.
For readers following our magic-history coverage, this clip is worth viewing alongside the anniversary article. Together, they offer two perspectives on Blaine’s London appearance—the event as it was being reported and the completed spectacle remembered years later.
Did you follow Above the Below in 2003? Share what you remember about the coverage and your reaction at the time.
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