ALTERNATIVE 3 (1977)

Presented as part of a fictional investigative current affairs series ’Science Report’ and filmed on 16mm film to give it an authentic documentary feel. ALTERNATIVE 3 was intended as an April Fools hoax (inspired by PANORAMA’s ’spaghetti tree’ spoof report in 1957) , but strike action caused by labour disputes at ITV caused transmission of the programme to be pushed back by two and a half months. In order to make his performance appear natural and spontaneous, actor Richard Marner chose not rehearse his lines. The title is a reference to the three ’alternative plans’ for the human race to survive a drastic climate change: 1) A drastic reduction in the human population; 2) The construction of immense underground facilities to house both governing body and a chosen elite from the population (and in which they would wait until nature has re-balanced itself) ; 3) For this chosen elite to populate Mars via a way station on the Moon. This third ’alternative’ is the one tha