VOICE: Philips you're nicked.

JONNY PHILLIPS: This whole scenario does pose a very interesting question. Is it really possible to crack a safe like this using just a stethoscope as we've seen in so many movies.

JONNY PHILLIPS: With the safe firmly secured, it was time to bring in this man. Meet Jason Osborne, ace locksmith. He's been cracking up to 3 safes a week for the past  27 years and he's never been defeated. He uses many different methods, including forced entry using a power drill with a special steel bit.  He's even cracked a safe for the Queen at Buckingham Palace.  So, Jason, tell me about the Buckingham Palace job. You had to open a safe. What? Was it jammed or?

JASON OSBORNE: It was a vault where the lock had jammed.

JONNY PHILLIPS: And what was in there? The Crown Jewels, don't tell me.

JASON OSBORNE: No. Just loads of silver.

JONNY PHILLIPS: Really?

JASON OSBORNE: Yes.

JONNY PHILLIPS V/O: But Jason faces a very different challenge today.  Cracking our safe with a doctor's stethoscope, something he's never tried before.

JONNY PHILLIPS: What are you actually listening for?

JASON OSBORNE: It's hard to explain, but you've basically got to line up three wheels and then when the 3 cuts line up an arm drops in that allows you to open it. But going by sound you can tell whether or not you're on the wheels or not.

JONNY PHILLIPS: Right, well let's see how you go?

JASON OSBORNE: All right.

JONNY PHILLIPS: And if you think the easy answer is to pick the whole thing up and do a runner, when the cavities of the walls are filled with concrete, even this little one weighs 350 kilos.  About the weight of 4 men.

This safe has over a million combinations. A computer-aided device could go through every possible combination but it would take up to 36 hours. Jason didn't have a computer, just his skill. And so that we could hear what he could hear, we wired up a microphone.  Although Jason wouldn't reveal the precise method, he did say he was listening out for a particular pattern of clicks, which give a clue to the combination of the lock. Finally after 2 and a half hours.

JASON OSBORNE: I think we're nearly there. In fact, yep.

JONNY PHILLIPS: Are you serious?

JASON OSBORNE: Yep.  I've done it.

JONNY PHILLIPS: No! Unbelievable. That's brilliant! That's one movie myth that turns out not to be a myth at all. You can open a safe using a stethoscope.

(SIREN)