A film called "The Great Global Warming Swindle" was shown on Channel 4 in March 2007.  The film suggested that climate change is really caused by changes in the way that the Sun behaves, rather than human activity.

The Sun obviously has a huge effect on our climate.  However, the Sun affects things in a gradual cycle over thousands of years, and scientists understand these cycles pretty well and include the effects of the Sun when they calculate the potential effects of climate change in the future.  We are now seeing significant warming over a much shorter period.  The climate is changing too quickly for it to be just as a result of the Sun's actions.

Following the broadcast, a formal complaint was made to OFCOM.  The film was criticised by some of the world's leading scientists, who stated that it misled the public.  These scientists included Sir John Houghton, the former boss of the Meterological Office; Lord May of Oxford, a former government chief scientist and Professor Chris Rapley, Director of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge.

The maker of the film has been criticised about his work before.  The Independent Television Commission found he had deliberately misled viewers with one of his earlier films.