An alien emissary faces a tough crowd on a Friday night in Birmingham.

Before his apparent meeting with an alien race in 1973, Claude Vorilhorn was a French motoring journalist. After his extra-terrestrial encounter, he changed his name to Raël, and began a decade long quest to spread the word about what he saw. He claimed to have met a race called the Elohim, who told him that they were the creators of life on Earth, through a process of DNA manipulation. Part of his quest to publicise Raëlism was to raise money (through subscriptions from his followers) to build an embassy at which the Elohim could meet world leaders in comfort and safety. By 1988, when he appeared on Central Weekend live from Birmingham, Raël was certainly looking the part, complete with eye-catching white leisure wear, but he finds few converts amongst a lively studio audience who try their best to stifle their giggles. Andy Craig attempts to hold things together, although the programme does tend to encourage a certain amount of rowdiness befitting it's late Friday night slot. In a nice touch, the Elohim themselves are invited to appear on the programme on a date of their choosing, presumably when they decide to make their dramatic entrance onto planet Earth. Let's hope the reception is a little more forgiving when they make their way to Broad Street.

Central Weekend debates alien lifeforms with Claude Rael.