[1] The son of a neurologist, he was educated at Summer Fields School in Summertown, Oxford, followed by Eton College and the University of Geneva.

Sometimes cited as a British parallel to Orson Welles's radio production of The War of the Worlds, Alternative 3 purported to be an investigation into Britain's contemporary "brain drain".

Alternative 3 was supposedly a plan to relocate a cross section of Earth's scientific and philosophical population to Mars in the event of climate change or some other planetary catastrophe.

When the DVD was released in October, 2007, it had a 30-minute featurette in the extras, featuring an interview with Brinton, as well as his fellow "conspirators", David Ambrose and Christopher Miles who also directed Alternative 3, alongside a production stills gallery and contemporary press cuttings.

Filmed by Bill Hooker and Reg Coast, edited by Roy Drew, script by Wilfred Greatorex and Ex Producer, George Grafton Green.