Video: ITV uses fake video game footage as ‘authentic’ IRA attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6r-kNct630

ITV have been left red-faced after 'authentic' IRA footage from last night's broadcast of "Exposure: Gadaffi and the IRA" turned out to be from a fan's YouTube video of a PC military video game.

In last night's documentary, a narrator stated "With Gadaffi's heavy machine guns, it was possible to shoot down a helicopter, as the terrorist's own footage of 1988 shows."

A blurry video was then shown with a caption reading 'IRA film 1988', which depicted a helicopter being taken out by a group of masked military individuals.

"This is what the security forces feared most," continued the narrator. "It may have been a lucky hit, but for the army and crew, once was enough. No-one died in this attack, but there were many other deadly arms to fear."

However, eagle-eyed viewers have discovered the real reason why no-one died in the attack - because it was a fan video of the 2009 military tactical shooter ARMA II.

The incredible blunder was first spotted on the developer of the game's official forum and as you'd imagine, no-one at ITV has yet came forward to admit their incompetence through an official statement.

Take a look at the above clip, which first features last night's footage and afterwards the original fan video, and let us know what you think of ITV's rigorously fact-checked documentary in the comments section below.

Warning: All of the soldiers attacked in the original ARMA II clip respawned seconds later, so don't be worrying about them.

Update: ITV have since released a statement admitting that it had cocked up. "The events featured in Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRA were genuine but it would appear that during the editing process the correct clip of the 1988 incident was not selected and other footage was mistakenly included in the film by producers. This was an unfortunate case of human error for which we apologise."