Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee were in Nottingham this week to judge the regional finals of the Britain's Bangers Competition at Jass Cafe. ANDREW TRENDELL spoke to them.

THE TWO OF YOU HAVE ACHIEVED AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT DURING YOUR CAREER. HOW HAVE YOUR AMBITIONS ALTERED AND WHAT DO YOU STILL HOPE TO ACHIEVE?

Paul: Well, I still think I can be a sex symbol. I'd still like to be in a film. I love films. In fact, we've just supported a group of students who have made a little ten minute film. They're looking for funding for it so they invited loads of celebrities to play loads of silly parts in this village fete, people like ourselves and Stephen Fry. I was brought up in a cinema so I like movies. I've always wanted to be in one, but never chased one. It sounds terrible this, but I became so good at doing magic stuff, that the phone just kept ringing, so I never had to chase work whereas actors have to get out there and search for the parts and I never had to do that. So in one way it's wonderful, and in another I'd really like to have a go at that. So when you write your movie, give me a call.

Debbie: I think ambition is a funny thing because people find their ways to get into work. But if there's something you really, really want to do, especially when you're young then you just go for it and you don't give up. Sometime in life, you don't succeed quite at where you're going; it takes you off somewhere else. If you keep persevering at anything then you will get there, and as you get older, you do lot's of things that you want to do, but as we've found now, lots of things crop up. Like I never thought that I would have my own radio show on BBC Radio Berkshire, but I absolutely love it. It wasn't an ambition, but it's an opportunity that I've grasped. Life is a real mixture. Yes you have to go off to achieve your goals, but also grab other opportunities that you might never have had in mind.

Paul: Old sayings are wise, so many things have already been worked out for us but we tend to ignore them. That old saying 'never put anything off' is absolutely on the button. My motto is 'just do it'. No matter what happens, just do it. I've been doing this for so many years and I've suddenly realised that I'm listening to my mother in my own mind. I'd say "Yes, I'll tidy it up in a minute," and she'd say "just do it." And she was so right.

I'M ALREADY TURNING INTO MY FATHER.

Paul: Ah yes, mirror, mirror on the wall, I am my father after all.

MY HAIR LINE MAY BE RECEDING SOON.

Paul: Oh, I tell people mine is a crop circle.

AH, YOU WERE IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR ALIENS TO VISIT?

Paul: Yes, indeed. I was visited by aliens and they left this crop circle.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE RECENT RESURGENCE OF VARIETY PROGRAMMES ON TELEVISION?

Paul: Well to have variety you have to have a variety of performers. The only time they've tried to put a variety show together in recent years, has been Britain's Got Talent, but instead of showing you the talent that Britain really has, they ritually show you the very bad acts. Some of these are very sad cases and these smart a**** are taking the mickey out of them. I don't find that entertaining or funny, I get embarrassed for the people on stage. I don't think they know how to shoot variety on television any more.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION ON THE MAGICIANS AND ILLUSIONISTS ON TELEVISION TODAY? IS DERREN BROWN A MAGICIAN?

Debbie: Yes he is, he just packages it in a different way.

Paul: Magic has different aspects. Magic is only the defiance of the rules that we're supposed to live by. Of course, one of those rules is that you can't read minds. So when acts like David Burglas and now Derren Brown do the performance, you have to remember that they are actors playing the part of the person doing the impossible. It all comes down to whether or not you like the actor or the presentation or not. Some like Derren, some don't, some like me and some don't. That's the way of life. I can't respect David Blaine, Chris Angel and particular others coming from America. There was a rule for us magicians when we were on television, and that was that if you can't do it live then you don't use technology to change the appearance. You have to be able to do it live, that's the job of being a magician. If I give you a card and say remember that card, I wouldn't tell you to pretend that it was the right card on camera. I want to see the magic.

Debbie: Exactly, anybody can do that.

Paul: David Blaine has moved from magic to doing endurance stunts. In the 1930s during the Great Depression, people would be sitting on poles for money. They would dance for weeks for money. They were endurance tests. The oddity of that was that we already knew that, and I'm astonished that the media didn't do there research to find that these people were up there for weeks.

D: David Blaine is no different to them. He's still doing it for money it's just that the television companies are paying him for it.

IT ASTOUNDS ME THAT PEOPLE WOULD WATCH A TWO HOUR TELEVISION SPECIAL OF A MAN ON A POLE. PEOPLE WILL WATCH ANYTHING.

Paul: Exactly, but they also make programmes about fishing. Or worse – cricket (laughs). Explain cricket. We had an American TV producer once who came to us and said "What the hell was I watching yesterday afternoon? Nothing happens forever!" I wouldn't argue with him.