One thing Holly Willoughby’s TV presenter pal Stephen Mulhern learned from performing at children’s parties was that kids are the “toughest audiences”.

How does he know? He’s done enough of them.

The Dancing On Ice presenter was putting on magic shows in his living room long before he became a household name. Orange juice, sweets, the whole shebang.

But while Stephen Mulhern may have made it in the world of UK showbiz, he hasn’t neglected his roots…

Stephen Mulhern performing magic at the Royal Variety Performance
The TV presenter cut his teeth at Butlin’s, but his first toe-dip in the industry was at home (Credit: Stephen Mulhern/YouTube)

Stephen Mulhern performed magic shows for Holly Willoughby’s kids

Last year, he spoke to OK! about his first toe-dip in the world of entertainment: performing magic shows for his family in the East End of London.

He’d set up a stage in the living room, he explained, and buy sweets from the shop to sell to his audience.

“There’d be like a pre-show bit, where they’d have orange juice, and then they would see the show. Then when my sister was growing up, I’d do magic shows for my sister, then I started doing magic shows at other people’s parties,” he said.

He still does magic shows for friends that are in TV, he added, before noting that the last person he did a magic show for was his colleague, Holly Willoughby.

“I did one for her kids,” he told the magazine. “I did Emma Willis’ kids’ birthdays too.”

Stephen Mulhern performing magic at the Royal Variety Performance
He performed at the Royal Variety Performance 2024 (Credit: Stephen Mulhern/YouTube)

Why children are the ‘toughest audiences’

Stephen went on to explain that one thing he learned from performing at children’s birthday parties is that kids are the “toughest audiences”.

They have “no filter”, he said, so if they see how a trick is done, they pull no punches in letting him know.

“They’re like: ‘Ahh, it’s under the table!’ At least if adults see something, they can quietly go: ‘I saw that, but we won’t spoil it for everybody else.’”

Stephen went on to hold down a job as a Redcoat at Butlin’s, and he still appears on the holiday park’s website in a lineup of jolly-looking performers.

They even commissioned the creation of a life-sized statue of him, unveiled at Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford. Stephen grew up nearby. He (as in, Stephen 2.0) will be at Butlin’s resort in Minehead next year.

“Butlin’s is a gateway into the industry,” the park quotes him as saying. “It’s better than any drama school.”