Space Cadets (TV series)

The series described itself as the most elaborate hoax perpetrated in television history. The title is a reference to the slang phrase space cadet, meaning a person out of touch with reality.[1] Participants had been told that they would be appearing in a programme titled Thrill Seekers,[2] although a whiteboard in the 'barracks' had "Space Cadettes" [sic] written on it during one of the parties organised in the facility.

A group of twelve contestants (who answered an advertisement looking for "thrill seekers") were selected to become the first British televised space tourists, including going to Russia to train as cosmonauts at the "Space Tourist Agency of Russia" (STAR) military base, with the series culminating in a group of four embarking on a five-day space mission in low Earth orbit. The show and space mission contained aspects of reality TV, including hidden cameras, soundproofed 'video diary' rooms and group dormitories.

However, the show was in fact an elaborate practical joke, described by Commissioning Editor Angela Jain as "Candid Camera live in space" and claimed by Channel 4 to have cost roughly £5 million. Unknown to the "space cadets", they were not in Russia at all, but at Bentwaters Parks (formerly RAF Bentwaters, a USAF airfield from 1951 to 1993) in Suffolk staffed by costumed actors, and the "space trip" was entirely fake, complete with a wooden "shuttle" and actor "pilots". The production crew went so far as to replace light switches and electrical outlets in the barracks with Russian standard, stock Bentwaters with Russian-branded foods and toiletries for contestants to use, give smokers amongst the production crew Russian cigarettes to smoke in case any of the cadets discovered the butts, and employing people to clear the site of any British-branded litter.[2] In addition, three of the Cadets were actors, included to misdirect any suspicious Cadets and to help reinforce the illusion.

Channel 4 had contingency plans if the contestants realised the hoax; Johnny Vaughan repeatedly suggested they would have to play old rerun episodes of Jamie's School Dinners, and after the "launch" some unchosen Cadets would have been used as a backup crew.

The show was originated by comedy writers Ben Caudell and Richard Osman. According to Caudell, the idea of the programme was inspired by one of his favourite childhood films, Capricorn One, which centres on a fake space mission to Mars. The production team originally planned to fake a Moon landing for the contestants, before settling on the aim of orbiting the Earth.[2]

• Andrew Carter, 19, a student from London.
• Sarah-Jane Cass, 19, a media studies student from Kent.
• Cheryl Dearie, 23, a housing association assistant (receptionist) from Glasgow.
• Paul French, 26, a plasterer from Bristol.
• Keri Hassett, 25, a college administrator from Birmingham.
• Billy Jackson, 25, a recruitment consultant from Kent.
• Ryan McBride, 28, an electrician living in London.
• Louise Nisbet, 23, a teacher from Whitstable.
• Astrid Roberts, 19, a call centre worker from Glamorgan.

French, Hassett and Jackson were chosen for the fake flight.

The show contained moderate amounts of bizarre, surreal, or subversive show elements, in a manner similar to other Zeppotron-related productions (for example, TVGoHome.) Examples include:

• Cadet lectures that were "about 80% true", the rest being ludicrous rubbish; many of these lectures were of little practical use to cosmonauts (e.g. memory tests of the planets in the Solar System)
• Stereotyped characters, including a slow-talking Royal Air Force Squadron Leader with a luxuriant handlebar moustache
• Stupid training exercises (e.g. communications training involving reporting ever more implausible emergencies, ending with monkeys rampaging through the spacecraft, and Rambo giving The Fonz a high five)
• Nonsense Russian (e.g. having the Cadets salute a 'Russian Poem' which was actually the recipe for toad in the hole or having the Russian pilot wear makeup, place plastic spoons in his hair and insist the Cadets act out Alice in Wonderland)
• Nonsensical space experiments, including tests to make balloon animals
• The motto of the establishment S.T.A.R. is 'Это не ракетостроение'. The mission commander claimed this means 'We, the adventurers', but it actually means 'It's not rocket science', a phrase meaning that something is very easy, here taking on a double meaning.
• During the training lectures, the cadets were told that Russia's first cosmonaut to successfully orbit and return to earth was a monkey called Minsky (who is supposedly stuffed and kept on display at S.T.A.R.), and that the city of Minsk is named in her honour.
• According to one of the "pilots", if the shuttle was unable to land at the S.T.A.R. base in Russia, one of the back-up sites was at Woodbridge, UK. This is an in-joke as, unknown to the cadets, RAF Woodbridge was the 'twin' airbase to RAF Bentwaters. Woodbridge is also the nearest town to the actual Space Cadets production site in Suffolk.
• The cadets were also told the segments of Mission Control, referred to by acronyms, some of which are made up – CAPCOM, FlDO, LIDO, DIDO, NACAS and MUMI (only CAPCOM and FlDO are genuine positions).

The Space Cadets were initially assembled at Biggin Hill airfield, London, before being flown to Lydd on the south east coast of England. This air-hop would normally take just 15 minutes, but thanks to a specially convoluted flight plan over the North Sea it lasted four hours. Upon arrival at Lydd the cadets were told they had reached Volgograd. The Cadets had been relieved of their watches prior to the flight to prevent them noticing the absent time difference. They were then transferred by helicopter to RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk, which they had been led to believe was the Space Tourism Academy of Russia (STAR) facility in the town of Krymsk.

In total, the two programmes are together rumoured to have cost around £4.5m to produce, including prize payouts, the 6-month audition process, set making, staff salaries, and profits for Zeppotron. The high cost fuelled speculation and rumours about further shows and the possibility of the producers performing a double-bluff in the future (Virgin Galactic is likely to offer initial space tourist flights for £100,000).

The show consistently raised the issue of how an immersive illusion can convince average people over a period of time, especially when reinforced as part of a group of believers – especially when this includes men in white coats and other authority figures. Outsiders (in this case, the viewers) see the hoax as laughable, yet 'inside' the Cadets have been slowly lulled into (as Vaughan stated) "what is, in effect, an alternative universe." Skelton, the actor Cadet on the 'mission', stated that it was easier to let himself believe the experience was genuine; trying to consciously remind himself of the hoax left him disorientated and "30% convinced, despite everything I know, that I am actually in space". Despite the fact that he was aware of the nature of the hoax, Skelton later stated that "for about a month (after the end of the show), I thought I was on camera all the time. I would wake up at night and think there were cameras in the corner of the room. It was quite disturbing".[2]

Parallels can be drawn to the supposed 'group experiment' element of Big Brother which Space Cadets draws on, and in wider terms propaganda, subliminal advertising, and the consensus nature of reality. See also: Asch conformity experiments, Milgram experiment and the Stanford prison experiment.

As the attention to detail in the hoaxed environment became clear, some viewers expressed suspicions – in particular on Channel 4's message board for the programme – that the entire show, including the apparent gullibility and abject ignorance of the Cadets, was in fact a double bluff; all the Cadets were actors and that the real target of "the biggest prank in television history" was the "gullible" viewing public. The theories were lent considerable credibility when Ryan McBride was sighted in a TV advert for blood donation,[8] although he later explained he was recruited as an extra on-location and was not a professional actor. Variations on this "conspiracy theory" included the actor Cadets being unaware of the hoax; that each Cadet believed themselves to be the only actor; or that the actors/Cadets believed the viewers thought the space mission was genuine. One conspiracy theory even went as far as to suggest a real trip into space could be awarded to one of the unsuspecting actor Cadets, possibly using a company like Virgin Galactic or Space Adventures for the prize.[9] Once the programme reached its end these suspicions proved to be unfounded.

• Capricorn One

• Space Cadets at Channel4.com
• Space Cadets at IMDb
• UKGameshows.com: Space Cadets
• Unreality TV — News and discussions on Space Cadets
• Space Cadets News
• Precise filming locations on the Bentwaters base, using online maps and aerial photos
• Mark Barry's web page about his involvement