An episode of the classic children's series 'Here Come The Double Deckers!'.
Brains is attempting to turn a black and white television set into a colour one. The Gang do not think he can do it. Suddenly, a picture appears - in colour. A news broadcast warns that alien beings from another world - Planet Seven - have landed, and want to take over the Earth. The Gang watch terrified as space-suited figures stalk the streets, equipped with futuristic guns. The set explodes before they can learn more.
Doughnut arrives, clutching free candy given to him by a spaceman ( obviously he never heeded the public information films of the time warning never to accept sweets from strangers ).
The Gang urges him not to eat the stuff ( "you'll turn into one of them!" ) and give him a bath to rid him of 'contamination'.
Peering over the fence surrounding the junkyard, they see the men from Planet Seven advancing in force...
Written by Glyn Jones, whose other writing credits include a 'Dr.Who' story starring William Hartnell entitled 'The Space Museum'. The director was Jeremy Summers, an I.T.C. regular with episodes of Gerry Anderson's 'U.F.O.' to his name.
Of course there's no alien invasion. What the Gang saw on television was a commercial for a new brand of candy. Interestingly, they go on thinking the invasion is real even after witnessing the 'spacemen' enjoying a tea break. The shot of the Earth used in the broadcast came from the Powell/Pressburger classic 'A Matter Of Life & Death'. The space-suits were made originally for the Hammer film 'Moon Zero Two', released the year before.
Note the snatches of Holst's 'Mars' from 'The Planet Suite' ( also used as the theme to B.B.C.'s 'Quatermass' series ) whenever the invaders appear.
If it strikes you as unlikely that anyone could be so daft as to think aliens had landed, don't forget that something like this really did happen - in 1938, people were fooled by a radio dramatisation of H.G. Wells' 'War Of The Worlds' produced by Orson Welles.
Amongst the guest cast is John Horsley, later to play befuddled 'Doc Morrissey' in 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin', and Sam Kydd, whose presence seems to have graced every British film and television series ever made.
Funniest moment - Doughnut's futile efforts to hide from the spacemen!
Brains is attempting to turn a black and white television set into a colour one. The Gang do not think he can do it. Suddenly, a picture appears - in colour. A news broadcast warns that alien beings from another world - Planet Seven - have landed, and want to take over the Earth. The Gang watch terrified as space-suited figures stalk the streets, equipped with futuristic guns. The set explodes before they can learn more.
Doughnut arrives, clutching free candy given to him by a spaceman ( obviously he never heeded the public information films of the time warning never to accept sweets from strangers ).
The Gang urges him not to eat the stuff ( "you'll turn into one of them!" ) and give him a bath to rid him of 'contamination'.
Peering over the fence surrounding the junkyard, they see the men from Planet Seven advancing in force...
Written by Glyn Jones, whose other writing credits include a 'Dr.Who' story starring William Hartnell entitled 'The Space Museum'. The director was Jeremy Summers, an I.T.C. regular with episodes of Gerry Anderson's 'U.F.O.' to his name.
Of course there's no alien invasion. What the Gang saw on television was a commercial for a new brand of candy. Interestingly, they go on thinking the invasion is real even after witnessing the 'spacemen' enjoying a tea break. The shot of the Earth used in the broadcast came from the Powell/Pressburger classic 'A Matter Of Life & Death'. The space-suits were made originally for the Hammer film 'Moon Zero Two', released the year before.
Note the snatches of Holst's 'Mars' from 'The Planet Suite' ( also used as the theme to B.B.C.'s 'Quatermass' series ) whenever the invaders appear.
If it strikes you as unlikely that anyone could be so daft as to think aliens had landed, don't forget that something like this really did happen - in 1938, people were fooled by a radio dramatisation of H.G. Wells' 'War Of The Worlds' produced by Orson Welles.
Amongst the guest cast is John Horsley, later to play befuddled 'Doc Morrissey' in 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin', and Sam Kydd, whose presence seems to have graced every British film and television series ever made.
Funniest moment - Doughnut's futile efforts to hide from the spacemen!
