Space Cadets (TV series)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Space Cadets" TV series – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Space Cadets
Space Cadets logo
Created by	Zeppotron
Starring	Johnny Vaughan Numerous actors and contestants
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	10
Production
Producer	Zeppotron
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	7 December (2005-12-07) – 16 December 2005 (2005-12-16)

Space Cadets is a British television programme made by Zeppotron (a division of Endemol UK) for Channel 4. Presented by Johnny Vaughan, it was aired across ten consecutive nights beginning on 7 December 2005, with the final episode aired on the evening of 16 December 2005.

The series was a hoax at the expense of its contestants, who were told they were being trained as cosmonauts at a Russian military base before undergoing a five-day trip into

Premise

The series described itself as the most elaborate

A group of twelve contestants (who answered an advertisement looking for "thrill seekers") were selected to become the first British televised

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.^{[citation needed]} 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]

Participants

• 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.

Actors

The three actor Cadets were Charlie Skelton, Ranie Daw and Steve Hester. Hester dropped out on day three after a bout of gastroenteritis and after Skelton accidentally kicked his toenail off. Skelton, also a comedy writer, was chosen to take part in the flight.

The two pilots were improvisational actors, Alex Humes and Drew Leavy, who stayed in character the entire flight, even when alone. Humes, portraying a Russian pilot, became noted for his bizarre and cryptic statements due to his method acting.

Other cast

• Johnny Vaughan – writer, host
• Richard Campbell – Mission Commander
• Giles Boden – writer
• Michael Klesic – Dr. Vladimir Negovetic
• Valera Riazanov – physical instructor

Space Cadets – The Satellite Show cast

• Johnny Vaughan – writer
• Alex Zane – host
• Jeremy Edwards (Episode 1.1)
• Myleene Klass (Episodes 1.1, 1.2)
• Richard Campbell (all episodes)

Audition process

In order for the hoax to stand a realistic chance of succeeding, the Cadets would have to remain unaware of the true nature of the show, even given any production mistakes and implausible explanations. In a 2021 interview, Caudell stated that following consultation with psychologists the production team aimed to select "what are known as susceptible people; people who are intelligent, have a creative mind, like practical jokes, and want to go along with people".^[2]

A strict set of criteria was therefore applied to filter out inappropriate applicants:

• Eliminating anyone who had ever served in the armed forces, or who already had a significant interest in space travel or science fiction.
• Psychological tests used to single out the highly suggestible and those who would conform to groupthink
• Physiological tests to determine claustrophobia, including being in restraining jackets and trapped in a full lift
• Being asked to dance blindfolded, without music, and with others watching, to gauge inhibition levels
• Asking the candidates to nominate a friend or relative they trusted implicitly, to make a vital and important decision for them. These friends or relatives were contacted, and fully let in on the hoax, and given the final say of whether or not the Cadet should be included.

The intention was to obtain a group of Cadets who were highly gullible, conformist, and ignorant about the show's subject matter; and also ideally suited to appearing in a reality TV show (e.g. uninhibited

Prize

All nine contestants won a genuine trip to Russia, including a trip to

Comedic elements

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
  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
  The Fonz
  a high five)
• Nonsense Russian (e.g. having the Cadets salute a 'Russian Poem' which was actually the recipe for
  Alice in Wonderland
  )
• Nonsensical
  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).

Initial viewing figures were 2.6 million (11% share), dropping to 2 million;[3] although Channel 4 was reported as being 'not disappointed' and the figures were in line with that time slot, and 42% of the viewers were the crucial 16- to 34-year-old segment.

Early viewer reaction to the show contained disbelief that such an apparently outlandish joke could be pulled off (the show claimed that Neil Armstrong had offered to eat his astronaut helmet if the show was successful).^{[citation needed]}

Particularly questioned was how weightlessness, which would be present in a real space flight, would be handled on a ground-based set. The Cadets were told that they would be in "near space" (as opposed to "outer space"), causing only a 30% loss of gravity, which was compensated by "gravity generators" built into the ship; this highly improbable explanation was believed.

Location

The Space Cadets were initially assembled at

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).

Psychological aspect

The show consistently raised the issue of how an immersive