Hoax

A hoax was something that was not real, (TV: ) similar to a prank at the expense of the listener. (TV: ) Students were commonly blamed for hoaxes. (TV:, ) Hoaxes were sometimes initiated as a cover-up for real events. (TV:, )

At first glance, General R. Asquith suggested that "the alien" was a hoax or a dummy. Doctor Sato, however, determined that it was alive. (TV: ) During the initial assessment of the incident on an operations board on the UNIT website, Staff Sergeant Annie Frederick suggested not going head on into the containment of the situation in case if it turned out to be a hoax; it did not, and UNIT did help the army investigate. (PROSE: ) The Slitheen craft crashing into Big Ben was soon regarded as a hoax, much to the disbelief of Mickey Smith, (TV:, PROSE: , ) who knew that this was anything but a hoax when he wrote about the crash on his website. (PROSE: ) As the Ninth Doctor explained: (TV: ) "They're just not ready. You're happy to believe in something that's invisible, but if it's staring you in the face, nope, can't see it. There's a scientific explanation for that. You're thick."

- The Ninth Doctor.

A cover story claimed that the appearance of a Sycorax on television was a hoax. (TV: )

Donna Noble believed that the replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day 2008 was a hoax. (TV: ) In Donna's World, a BBC News 24 newsreader insisted that the spaceship Titanic was not a hoax as it plummeted to Buckingham Palace. (TV: )