Gravity Road's satirical comedy series, The Anti-Social Network, premieres on 4oD

Described as a satirical take on how news is created in the chaotic culture of instant media, it follows a band of geeks and out-of-work actors committed to rustling up the most ludicrous hoax stories and seeing how far up the media chain they will stick.

“We always wanted to create our own content as well as content for brands. As people were eulogising about the wisdom of the crowd, we saw increasing evidence of the opposite: the stupidity of the crowd,” explained Boyd, adding that the show also asks questions about how we scrutinise information appearing on our own social networks as we race to share something first.

The Anti-Social Network follows a "ragtag" band of geeks, madmen and out-of-work actors committed to rustling up the most ludicrous hoax stories and seeing how far up the media chain they will stick.

The theme is based on the fact that consumer trust in the British press in the wake of the phone-hacking trials has hit an "all-time low", while the press still faces the same pressure to meet the internet's "insatiable appetite" for sharable news.

The show follows the launch of a fake celebrity sperm bank in the UK called Fame Daddy (above), which claimed to herald a "new frontier" in fertility treatment. Although it was a fake, people believed it and over 48 hours the show went global, appearing on 700 news shows and channels and whipping up social media hype with #celebspermclinic trending on Twitter.