HIDDEN ARCHIVE: Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment
First published February 2005
Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - Page 3


"I don't know what 'now' is..."


Still on the same film roll, this is the 'famous' sequence, made famous by TV Hell. A contemplative piece to camera from Mayhew.

SAME SHOT AS BEFORE. MAYHEW LEANS FORWARD IN HIS CHAIR, STARING AT THE CAMERA. ABOUT TEN SECONDS GO BY, THEN HE SITS BACK IN HIS CHAIR AGAIN, PLAYING WITH HIS HANDS.

MAYHEW
I don't know what I shall think of this on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I don't know what to think of it now, because... I don't know what 'now' is.

PAUSE

And whether the question as to whether there is a 'now' or not means anything to you, I don't know.

PAUSE

Er... I am interested myself in the problem of 'now' - what it is - and er... this experiment, for me, has been a great success and it will be a shame that this is a question that we... we ought to, er, take very seriously. I am moving, at this moment, from one time into another time... and back again. And I am, er... I'm not so conscious, Humphry, of moving myself in space, but I am extremely conscious...

PAUSE

...of moving in time... of things having no succession... and of there being no absolute time... no absolute space... it is simply what we impose on the outside world... and, er, the more closely I feel this, the more relaxed I feel... and, er... the less I feel inclined to talk, Now I'm becoming of your level again, back again, Humphry, and I know that, er, you'll be smiling at that, probably.

DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF)
Cut!

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 3, Sequence 4 - 02/09/55

Still on the third film roll, this sequence also apparently cuts in, mid-conversation. Mayhew now looks a bit out of sorts, his eyes increasingly glazed. One stray strand of his otherwise immaculate head of hair droops over his forehead.

CLOSE UP ON MAYHEW WHO IS FACING TOWARDS OSMOND.

MAYHEW
...there are three levels of experience we're dealing with. There's the level of my conscious mind, the level of my sub-conscious mind, and then there's the televison programme which has introduced this new dimension. At the moment I'm fairly lucid, Humphry, and, er... I think you'd better ask me some questions!

OSMOND
Well, I... h... how are you feeling in... in yourself - you remember you were feeling rather uncomfortable some time ago, are you still feeling that way?

MAYHEW
No, physically I... I find that's irrelevent.

OSMOND
Mm-hmm. How about eating - do you feel hungry?

MAYHEW
Now you mention it, er, no I don't really feel hungry.

OSMOND
Thirsty?

MAYHEW
Now you mention it, but, er, I don't feel it seriously.

OSMOND
Now, you... you were going to, er, tell us a little bit about the, er, the differences between this 'other' state and our one I think.

MAYHEW
The other state of time?

OSMOND
Yes.

MAYHEW
Um... Yes, I was trying to say to you that, er, the last messages of one self to the other is 'don't forget me', so to speak. That's what I'm trying to say now, Humphry, is, um, that the kind of time... in which I'm living... now... is just as well as the kind of time in which you're living.

OSMOND
But they're not the same?

MAYHEW
No. No, they're not at all the same. And I'm constantly coming back - now I'm lucid again - I'm constantly coming back, er, to your time, from mine.

MAYHEW
I mean, in our time...

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 3, Sequence 5 - 02/09/55


"Tubby is disappearing in time..."


Having filmed enough in terms of conversation, an attempt is made to capture a viable 'summing up' sequence to end the show with. Since it's Mayhew's baby, it falls to him to provide this payoff.

Now, you'd assume the production crew might have anticipated the potential problem with this idea beforehand, but, with their frontman still tripping the light psychedelic, they go for it...

MAYHEW AWAITS A CUE, THEN ADDRESSES THE CAMERA

MAYHEW
Well, now I'm luci... this is a lucid moment for me, and my conscious mind is back with yours, quite finite, that is to say that I can look at my watch, which is the symptom now I've got... of... being... at your level of consciousness... and, er... now I'm thinking to myself, er, how is it looking as a programme - will it cut properly, will it... but now I'm conscious also of remembering that the waves are going to come back, which, er, were originally physical and... mental, but are waves of consciousness, and now I'm conscious of that time disappearing, so I'm watching the camera, I'm watching Tubby... Tubby is disappearing in time... (PAUSE) Now I'm back with you, and I see I've said something rather strange to you, probably. (PAUSE) And now, er, I'm back with you again... and I can see that, probably what I've said is interesting...

LONG PAUSE

I'm completely un-self-conscious in front of the camera... and the fact that I say that shows that my mind is back with you again.

DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF)
Cut!

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 3, Sequence 6 - 02/09/55

The above sequence is particularly unnerving, with Mayhew staring with a sneaky grin as he announces that his cameraman is "disappearing in time..." (and looking not unlike Jeremy Hardy, oddly enough).

It's not difficult to deduce however that the above payoff wasn't considered usable by the director. And so, after a change of film roll, they make a second attempt.

OSMOND
Yes, yes you had.

DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF)
Do it to camera...

OSMOND
You had one...

MAYHEW
Er, well I'm not at all sure now, er, what the time is... I'm lucid though, I can hear the camera going, er, I can see Tubby (UNINTELLIGABLE) behind camera. I'm quite lucid, and, er, I sense that it's the later stage of what you might call the programme... and, er... er, it's up to me, I know, now, to try to bridge the gulf that I'm aware of happening... between... the time I'm talking to you now... and I time which is quite different and may happen before or after...

LONG PAUSE

...and which isn't really related to your time at all. I'm in it now... now I'm back again, and I can recall that the camera... is turning... so I have no consciousness... at all... of, er, camera consciousness. Quite lucid. (TURNS TO FACE DIRECTOR) I'm quite lucid now!

DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF)
Thank you. Cut!

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 4, Sequence 1 - 02/09/55

A little later, and another attempt.

MAYHEW
Well here I... I'm fairly lucid now... and so I think that this is a late stage... in the experiment. And, er, I've got a feeling that it'll be quite appropriate for me to try and sum up now what's gone before, because I feel that things have gone before, so I can't be certain that er, er, what's happening now, to you...

LONG PAUSE

...I can't be certain that, er, what's happening now with you...

PAUSE

...now I'm back lucid again, and I feel that the sentence that I meant to say... can't be said...

PAUSE

Now I'm lucid so I'll look at my watch... again... and it's er... eighteen minutes to. And, er, I'm beginning to feel a little tired now. And, er, I'm beginning to wonder... what the... Tubby, now, Tubby - I'm feeling lucid again - he's... he's taking my film now... I'm wondering if he'll be feeling tired too, I suppose, yes, with the same... what was it that, er, Rex - I'm lucid enough to remember now - Rex wanted me to do something. (PAUSE) He wanted to ask me, yes, now I'm fairly lucid... Will this have any permanent effect on me? And, er, I see the answer now, which is simply this... that the 'me'... on whom it could have any possible effect... is the 'me' that exists on your space and time! And, er, the other 'me' is, er, in a different space, and a different time, which I'm now in now, and er... which I can't communicate to you at all! Well, er, whether I'm now lucid... whether I'm now saying goodnight to you, or good morning, I'm not quite sure...

LONG PAUSE

DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF)
Cut!

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 4, Sequence 2 - 02/09/55

Several mute sections are then filmed - noddies and wild shots to help with the final edit:

ABOUT FORTY-FIVE SECONDS OF OSMOND LISTENING TO MAYHEW'S ANSWERS AND THEN APPARENTLY WRITING THEM DOWN IN HIS NOTEBOOK. AT THE END OF THE SHOT HE LOOKS AT THE CAMERA AS IF TO SAY 'IS THAT ENOUGH'?

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 4, Sequence 3 - 02/09/55

Some more of the same follows.

ABOUT A MINUTE MORE OF THE SAME SHOT, INCLUDING MUTE CONVERSATION, CHUCKLING, ETC.

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 4, Sequence 4 - 02/09/55

Another jump in the film, and a sound clip of Osmond attemting to sum up the situation.

SHOT OF OSMOND AS BEFORE. HE TAKES A CUE FROM THE DIRECTOR AND TURNS TO FACE MAYHEW

OSMOND
Well, you see, Chris, one of the difficulties we run into here is a semantic one. Now, I know quite well... some of the experiences that you're having but I don't know how one gets them across in words, and I've been trying to puzzle out ways in which we can demonstrate this, and I'm still quite defeated. About a month ago we had a very similar experiment of this sort, and it too was extremely puzzling. This makes this one very valuable, though it's not... er, not all of them are like this. And when we get a method which seems fairly simple for telling us about one type of experiment, we then, it seems, run into another, which is... even more hard to cope with, and I'm greatly fascinated by all this, but it's still very very puzzling. And that's where we stand at the moment.

PAUSE

DIRECTOR'S VOICE (OFF)
Cut!

FILMING CUTS

Panorama: The Mescaline Experiment - session rushes
Roll 4, Sequence 5 - 02/09/55

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