Threads
It's just another day in Sheffield, everyone going about their own affairs, when suddenly the unthinkable happens - a nuclear strike. When the survivors scrabble out of the rubble, that is just the beginning of a waking nightmare, as modern society quickly crumbles into starvation and suffering.
Threads was broadcast on BBC2 on Sunday 23rd September 1984, and was followed on Monday by an episode of the Natural World “On the 8th Day” about the effects of a nuclear winter, and a special Newsnight debate about nuclear war.
The early 80's witnessed a heightened awareness of the cold war and the threat of nuclear Armageddon, one that was reflected in popular culture. The government’s 1980 Protect and Survive campaign, which appears in the film, had already entered infamy for its ineffectual advice. The Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp began in 1981. Raymond Briggs published When the Wind Blows in 1982. In 1983 US TV movies The Day After and Testament were released. Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood was at number one for nine weeks in 1984.
Threads was a co-production between the BBC, Network Nine and Western-World Television and was instigated by the Director-General of the BBC Alistair Milne, after he’d reviewed Peter Watkin’s 1966 TV play about the aftermath of a nuclear attack The War Game which has up until then had never been broadcast, although it had had a limited cinema run.
Director Mick Jackson had overseen a documentary for the BBC1 science series QED "A Guide to Armageddon" and had already amassed a significant amount of research on the effects of nuclear war. Barry Hines, writer of Kes, was asked to write the script because of his reputation for politically aware working-class drama. Sheffield was chosen as the location because of Labour city council’s Nuclear Free policy meant they were sympathetic to the programme makers and Jackson and Hines’ research made them believe that industrial cities were likely to be targeted.
For this particularly tough episode I drew on two special contributors. Rik Hoskin writes award-winning comics like White Sand, video game scripts and novels. He’s no stranger to the nuclear apocalypse, having been lead writer on two long-running post-apocalyptic book series: James Axler’s Deathlands and Outlanders. Andrew Crines is a lecturer in Political Science and has written and co-written a score of articles and books.