h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4774429.stm

There must surely be a guide entry dealing with this situation somewhere - 'What to do if you find yourself being unexpectedly interviewed as an expert of an unfamiliar field on live TV with no hope of rescue'. I'm not sure that 'approach situation with good humour and pretend to be the expert' would feature in a list of recommendations, though it makes this rather implausible story all the more heartwarming. I feel sorry for the poor bloke involved and the production staff having to try to explain the cock-up to their superiors. It seems to me that no-one is to blame, though, and I hope the BBC come to the same conclusion. After all, it's not impossible to mix up two people with the same name, and you wouldn't want to appear fazed by a task put in front of you as part of a job interview. Put that way, the whole scenario sounds perfectly reasonable

One wonders if the other candidates have a legal right to request a comparable job interview...

We watched the interview the other day on the web, and it was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long while, just listening to the interviewer as she began to realise something wasn't quite right Pity the guy didn't get the IT job He'd come to be interviewd for

I didn't realise the poor guy didn't get the job he was going for . I think given the situation he did rather well and I sincerely hope that the BBC are considering him for other posts.

At least it's an amusing anecdote to tell his grandkids.