8 Greatest TV Hoaxes Of All Time

1. Alternative 3

All right...read this one and tell me it doesn't sound like the plot of an awesome (okay, so bad it's awesome) film. In 1977, the British television station ITV broadcast a documentary called Alternative 3, which centred on the supposed phenomenon of British scientists vanishing off the face of the planet. The broadcast was set up to look authentic. Initially, the host said, the documentary had been about British scientists leaving the country in order to try and find better jobs elsewhere, but over the course of making the programme they began to notice something a lot more sinister. A full investigation was launched, and it was apparently discovered that Earth was set to be hit by a massive natural disaster, the scope of which would wipe out everyone on the face of the planet. For this reason, governments around the world had decided to establish what came to be known as a €œNoah's Ark€ colony, featuring the most prominent people on earth. The colony was set to be jettisoned off the planet and its aim was to colonize a different one (potentially Mars). Despite the fact that it was later outed as a hoax, a few conspiracy theorists continue to insist that the show was leaked on purpose and spun as a stunt in order to throw the world off the scent of the truth.