Television has been lying to you for years. You don't need any of those payday loans with extortionate interest rates, that shampoo that claims to cure baldness doesn't actually work, and David McCall is neither charming nor funny. Then there are the time they've deliberately broadcast fictional programs masquerading as documentaries. Almost certainly inspired by the infamous War Of The Worlds radio broadcast where Orson Welles, imitating a news report, told listeners that Martians were invading mainland USA, Alternative 3 was a one-off episode of the very real Anglia TV series Science Report. Most editions of Science Report were focussed on actual news and breakthroughs in the scientific world. Alternative 3 was a special episode that was due to air on April Fool's Day, but got delayed for some reason, so the broadcast about a plan to make the Moon and Mars habitable in the event of climate change was taken dead seriously when watched on the 20 June 1977.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
