Is 'The Only Way Is Birmingham' Really Happening?

This morning Twitter was aflutter with rumours of a new show called

The Only Way Is Birmingham

. Except that there is no new show, because the people attempting to make it would never be able to use the name for legal reasons (

believe

me, we

know

).

Also, their attempts to convince the internet that an equivalent to TOWIE and Made In Chelsea set in my hometown is coming are far from convincing. Among the entry-level trolling served up by whoever's behind this "reality soap" is the implausible 11-second trailer embedded above, another, somehow even less convincing "teaser" (see below) and a terribly designed website. A quick Whois search shows the URL is owned by South Birmingham College, which means that this is probably all just some students (or lecturers) dicking about (or earning module credits, same thing).

All of this could have been successfully hoaxed by anyone with a Macbook, some pretty staple torrented software and a smartphone. I haven't tried, but I don't even need to, because I have a basic understanding of computers. I also know how easy it would be to throw these videos together with access to the sort of facilities any modern media college has. The Tory cuts might mean they'll never, ever be able to upgrade to OS X Blobfish or whatever they're gonna call the next Apple thing, but for now, they're pretty well equipped.

Anyway, to be honest, I find it hard to get mad at some unfunny/ unoriginal students embarrassing themselves on the internet. What made me really go

Elias Kasidiaris about all this is that Twitter quickly began using the (clearly not genuine) video as an excuse to piss all over the name of my idyllic hometown: Ouch, guys! One way systems? Low-blow!

Some other people decided to use Crimewatch as a cultural reference, which hasn't been acceptable since before the invention of Twitter:

Seriously, Crimewatch?! More opinionated tweeters (and admittedly, some of these might be from Birmingham) took the opportunity to comment on the ethnic make up of the city:

A couple of days ago, the show's "creators" posted on-set photos of the cast at the TOWIB Facebook page, as well as a countdown at the website suggesting that the show will be launching in roughly five weeks.

Oh, and at some point on Twitter, these started appearing too:

All of which seems to have given the world the impression that #TOWIB could actually be happening.

Except that it's not. This is so obviously some bullshit college project that I'm surprised that even the exhaust pipe-sucking idiots of Twitter have been taken in by it. But while I have your attention, let me give you a couple of notes on taking the piss out of a town you don't belong to: 1) Birmingham is an easy target; you are lazy. 2) Only I'm allowed to do it because I'm from there. 3) Fuck off, you Southern cunt.

Follow Josh on Twitter: @joshuahaddow