UK rapper Stormzy has fallen victim to an April Fool's Day stunt from BBC Three, after the channel suggested veteran broadcaster David Attenborough would be fronting an upcoming Grime documentary.

The 23-year-old was caught out by a tweet from the digital-only station that satirised the mainstream breakthrough of the genre, symbolised by the success of Stormzy's debut album Gang Signs and Prayer.

A tweet, apparently promoting David Attenborough: A Life Of Grime, featured the 90-year-old cropped in a picture with household names including Frisky and Risky Roadz. A caption read: "Brand new and exclusive to BBC Three."

However, Stormzy failed to realise that Attenborough had been photoshopped into the image, produced as part of April Fool's Day.

Believing the post, he sent a long message of concern to the channel's Twitter account, only to realise his embarrassing mistake.

"Ahh I all sent @bbcthree some long DM just slewing them. public apology guys sorry", he wrote, crying emoji face included.

"F*** April fools man there's no time it's too confusing what is the truth," he added in jest.

BBC Three, a millennial-focused arm of BBC programming, responded with humour, stating: "'How dare you twist up the truth' Don't leave the internet, we like having you around @Stormzy1,"

The hoax delighted fans, with one proclaiming: "Its gonna be a long day if you fell for that one". The Shut Up rapper appeared to agree, replying "Fam, I'm coming off the internet".

The incident is not Stormzy's only recent Twitter humbling. Earlier this month, in response to music publication NME using his image on a cover about depression without consent, the London-born star hastily attacked the article's author Andrew Trendell, believing he was behind the image choice.

However, Stormzy removed the tweet after Trendell, in a statement via Twitter, insisted he had nothing to do with the image selection.