Archer was a police officer in Cleveland Constabulary in the north-east of England for ten years, until 1996 when he was medically retired due to partial hearing loss, after which he began entertaining full-time.
Archer appeared on the ITV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us on 7 January 2011, hosted by Jonathan Ross.
Thackery won the public vote, leaving the judges to choose between Archer and fellow comedian Kojo Anim.
Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon opted for Anim, therefore sending Archer home.
[citation needed] He is a devout Christian and discussed his faith in depth in his episode of The Magician's Podcast.