Mediumship is defined as the practice of certain people—known as mediums—to mediate communication between spirits of the dead and other human beings. While no evidence has been accepted by the wider scientific community in support of the view that there has been communication between the living and the dead, some parapsychologists say that some of their research suggests that such communication may have taken place. The practice is associated with several religious belief systems such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo, Umbanda and some New Age groups.

There are several different variants of mediumship; the best known forms are where a spirit takes control of a medium's voice and uses it to relay a message, or where the medium simply 'hears' the message and passes it on. Other forms involve manifestations of the spirit, such as apparitions or the presence of a voice, and telekinetic activity.

Attempts to contact the dead date back to early human history, with mediumship gaining in popularity during the 19th century. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice started to lose credibility. Nevertheless the practice still continues to this day, and high profile fraud has been uncovered as recently as the 2000s.

Tony Stockwell is a British author, television personality and psychic medium. He was born in Walthamstow, East London.

Stockwell was born on London's East End. His career as a medium began at the age of 16 when he was invited to a local Spiritualist church by a friend to see another medium at work. After this experience, Tony decided that he wanted to become a medium. In his early years he demonstrated mediumship at the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain.

Stockwell has worked extensively in the media and has had three of his own television series: The Psychic Detective, Street Psychic, and Psychic School. He has also had two one-off specials: Street Psychic San Francisco and The National ESP Challenge.^{[unreliable source?]} He has regularly appeared as a guest on 6ixth Sense with Colin Fry. In 2009 he toured the UK with the American medium James Van Praagh.

In addition to his tours and media appearances, Stockwell has written four books about his experiences as a Spiritualist medium, and released four audio CDs on communication with spirits, angels, and spirit guides. He also runs a training school for aspiring mediums.