Actually, over the years people have repeatedly asked about "repacking" scrubbers, and the issue has been discussed more than once in various forums and mailing lists before that. So this is not a new issue, though I'm suprised that it still happened in this day and age.
On the other hand Martin Parker not too long ago wrote to the Inspo Owner's List, and IIRC also posted on RBW, the correct procedure to pack their scrubbers. Most people were caught by suprise as they had been taught differently! Once this became known to AP they went to great length to straighten out this problem, even made
instructional videos posted on their website complete with downloadable files.
I still wouldn't be suprised if people pack their AP scrubbers too tightly.
As for this not being real, knowing Simon Pridmore as well as Martin Parker I doubt they would pretend it was. Aside from being posted on a governmental website.
There are several very important lessons to be learned from that video, not just about the importance of correct scrubber packing and the dangers of hypercapnia (CO2 poisening), but also about proper bailout planing and procedures, and the need for team procedures.
And as the video/supporting text states, this not only concerns rebreather divers, but divers in general. Emergency bailout and team procedures are obvious, but hypercapnia isn't necessarily rebreather/scrubber related. The real danger is the CO2 the diver retains, and that can happen on OC as well as during freediving. "Shallow water blackout" is a well known danger, and OC divers working hard against currents, panicing or holding their breath while taking pictures or filming are a common occurence. Not venting your lungs properly is the real danger, and it's not limited to rebreather divers.
This is a very well done accident analysis that benefits from the video footage taken during the incident. Seeing it with own eyes just brings the point across a lot better. The mistakes that lead up to the incident, as well as those made during the emergency were all to real, the lessons learned too important to devalue them because they were stupid, or they should have known better.
Gordon Smith used to say something like
"don't focus on the worst possible failure, focus on the most likely ones". Wise words, it's the stupid mistakes, the little, simple things that go wrong and pile up, often leading to the worst outcome.
Too many good divers have lost their lifes because of dumb-*** mistakes!