Channel 4 is preparing to launch the biggest TV hoax in history.
Channel 4 Space Hoax
Channel 4 is launching a new reality show in which a group of people believe they are training in Russia for a space mission - but in fact every move they make is being filmed at a disused airbase in Britain.
The contestants in the show, called Space Cadets, believe they are in Russia, undergoing intensive training to be blasted into space, but in reality are at a former American airbase in the UK.
Participants answered an advertisement for “thrill-seeking” members of the public to take part in a new TV show.
In order to convince them that they are going to Russia for a two week's training, they will be taken on a helicopter night flight.
But in reality they will fly for hours around the UK, on a carefully mapped flightpath over the sea and unpopulated areas so that they do not recognise anything.
The set for the programme features a space shuttle, with a cockpit that has featured in films including Space Cowboys and Deep Impact.
A giant custom-built screen positioned just outside the shuttle will, it is hoped, provide the illusion of a view of Earth from space including a hurricane over Mexico and a glimpse of the UK on one day when cloud cover parts.
There is also a mission control, an operations centre where the space cadets will be trained, barracks and a recreation room.
To keep up the illusion that the contestants are in Russia, the site has been kitted out with Russian fixtures and fittings - including more than 100 plug sockets, lightbulbs, drain covers and signs.
From an initial 100 applicants, the contestants viewers will see them whittled down to just four for the fictional mission. One of them will be an actor.
They undergo intensive training, which every so often gets a little whacky. This tests whether any of the participants have worked out it is all a hoax.
Angela Jain, the Channel 4 commissioning editor for factual entertainment, said: "We've taken a big risk with Space Cadets and we don't know who will have the last laugh - but we're hoping it's going to be a really entertaining and unique event in the schedule - a real treat in the run-up to Christmas."
Julian Bellamy, head of factual entertainment, said: “We think this is exactly the sort of thing Channel 4 should be doing.
“We are trying to pull off the biggest practical joke in TV history by convincing them that they will be Britain’s first space tourists.”
Channel 4 and Space Cadets producer Zeppotron have kept the project secret so as not to give away the hoax to the contestants.
Space Cadets has taken eight months to develop and has a production staff of more than 150. Thirty-four cameras will film the contestants 24 hours a day.
Space Cadets is to run on Channel 4 at 21:00 every night from Wednesday December 7, for 10 days, with a live 60-minute show each night hosted by Johnny Vaughan.
Admitting that the “whole thing could blow at any moment”, the channel has got a stand-in schedule lined up just in case.
Channel 4's digital service E4 will carry round the clock live streaming of the space cadets from December 11.
E4 is also to broadcast a daily spin-off show, Space Cadets: the Satellite Show presented by Alex Zane.
Channel 4 Space Hoax
Channel 4 is launching a new reality show in which a group of people believe they are training in Russia for a space mission - but in fact every move they make is being filmed at a disused airbase in Britain.
The contestants in the show, called Space Cadets, believe they are in Russia, undergoing intensive training to be blasted into space, but in reality are at a former American airbase in the UK.
Participants answered an advertisement for “thrill-seeking” members of the public to take part in a new TV show.
In order to convince them that they are going to Russia for a two week's training, they will be taken on a helicopter night flight.
But in reality they will fly for hours around the UK, on a carefully mapped flightpath over the sea and unpopulated areas so that they do not recognise anything.
The set for the programme features a space shuttle, with a cockpit that has featured in films including Space Cowboys and Deep Impact.
A giant custom-built screen positioned just outside the shuttle will, it is hoped, provide the illusion of a view of Earth from space including a hurricane over Mexico and a glimpse of the UK on one day when cloud cover parts.
There is also a mission control, an operations centre where the space cadets will be trained, barracks and a recreation room.
To keep up the illusion that the contestants are in Russia, the site has been kitted out with Russian fixtures and fittings - including more than 100 plug sockets, lightbulbs, drain covers and signs.
From an initial 100 applicants, the contestants viewers will see them whittled down to just four for the fictional mission. One of them will be an actor.
They undergo intensive training, which every so often gets a little whacky. This tests whether any of the participants have worked out it is all a hoax.
Angela Jain, the Channel 4 commissioning editor for factual entertainment, said: "We've taken a big risk with Space Cadets and we don't know who will have the last laugh - but we're hoping it's going to be a really entertaining and unique event in the schedule - a real treat in the run-up to Christmas."
Julian Bellamy, head of factual entertainment, said: “We think this is exactly the sort of thing Channel 4 should be doing.
“We are trying to pull off the biggest practical joke in TV history by convincing them that they will be Britain’s first space tourists.”
Channel 4 and Space Cadets producer Zeppotron have kept the project secret so as not to give away the hoax to the contestants.
Space Cadets has taken eight months to develop and has a production staff of more than 150. Thirty-four cameras will film the contestants 24 hours a day.
Space Cadets is to run on Channel 4 at 21:00 every night from Wednesday December 7, for 10 days, with a live 60-minute show each night hosted by Johnny Vaughan.
Admitting that the “whole thing could blow at any moment”, the channel has got a stand-in schedule lined up just in case.
Channel 4's digital service E4 will carry round the clock live streaming of the space cadets from December 11.
E4 is also to broadcast a daily spin-off show, Space Cadets: the Satellite Show presented by Alex Zane.