Two is revisiting the Believe in Magic scandal with a new three-part series, The Mother of All Cons, turning the spotlight back on Jean O'Brien and her daughter, Megan Bhari. The programme returns to a case that once won celebrity backing, public sympathy and money for a charity built on lies.
That is why Cbeebies Iplayer is being searched now: the series arrives as viewers are being asked to look again at how a teenager who had become one of Britain's most celebrated children's charity faces helped create a story that spread far beyond the charity world. Bhari launched Believe in Magic in 2012 when she was 16, after saying in a blog that she was living with a brain tumour. By 2015, David Cameron had praised her charitable work at a Downing Street reception, calling her extraordinary.
Believe in Magic was meant to give seriously ill children and their families magical experiences, and it did so through trips, celebrity meet-and-greets, family holidays and one-off events. The charity drew support from names including One Direction, while Harry Styles' mother took part in a 10-day trek to raise money for it. Public appeals in 2015 reportedly brought in around £120,000, and supporters were told Bhari urgently needed specialist treatment in the United States.
What kept the story alive, though, was the collision between the generosity people saw and the truth that came later. Families said they did receive genuine support, experiences and opportunities through Believe in Magic even though the charity itself was based on lies. After Bhari died in 2018 from a heart issue, not a brain tumour, an inquest found there was no evidence she had ever suffered from the illness she had described publicly. It also found she had fatty liver disease and had received treatment for opioid addiction.
That contradiction is what makes the new series more than a rehash of an old scandal. It is a reminder that Bhari's story was not only about money raised or celebrity applause, but about how trust was earned, used and, in the end, broken. The series does not change the outcome of the case, but it does bring the unanswered question back into view: how did a false illness claim become a public cause, and why did so many people believe it for so long?
