Threads
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Threads is a 1984
BBC television docudrama depicting the effects of a
nuclear war on the
United Kingdom and its aftermath. Written by
Barry Hines and directed by
Mick Jackson,
Threads was filmed in late 1983 and early 1984. The premise of
Threads was to hypothesize the effects of a
nuclear war on the United Kingdom after an exchange between the
Soviet Union and the
United States escalates to include the UK.
Plot
The story focuses on two families from
Sheffield, beginning nearly three months before the attack, which happens on Thursday,
26 May; the year is unspecified, but, relative to 1984, the closest years in which 26 May fell on a Thursday are 1983 and 1988. We watch their lifestyle and their reactions, first as fighting erupts and escalates, then as the UK places itself on a war footing, and eventually as strategic bombing commences. We then follow family members as they face, and eventually die of, the medical, economic, social, and environmental consequences of a nuclear war. The film concludes thirteen years after the attack, as civilization rebuilds to a stage like the early Industrial Era, with children barely able to speak proper English. Both the plot and the atmosphere of the film are extremely bleak. The story begins with the two families becoming linked by the engagement of young Ruth Beckett and Jimmy Kemp due to an unplanned pregnancy. The couple buy a flat and Jimmy argues with his parents over having a baby during the recession. In the background, ignored by the characters at first, the
Soviet Union has invaded
Iran following a coup, and the
United States, with British support, has begun to intervene militarily. A third plot thread follows the chief executive of Sheffield City Council, who is put on alert and tasked with creating a local team who could run the area in the event of a nuclear attack. The situation escalates with military clashes,
Warsaw Pact troops on the border between East and West Germany, the government taking control of
British Airways and
motorways for military purposes, and large protests against British involvement in the crisis. Soon Britain is gripped by fear, with panic buying and a mass exodus from the city, and reports come in of tactical nuclear weapons being used in Iran.
Protect and Survive films about how to cope with a nuclear attack are now being broadcast daily and repeatedly.
The first nuclear weapons of the conflict are used when a squadron of American
B-52's bomb a Soviet airbase in Iran with conventional weapons, but then the Soviets use a nuclear-tipped
warhead on a missile to destroy the bombers. The Americans respond to this by firing another nuclear missile at the airbase. From here the power of the conflict exponentiates.
On 26 May, at 8:30am
BST, Sheffield is going about its normal business. Jimmy and his mate Bob are at work, arguing with people trying to buy emergency building supplies to make shelters. At home with her family, Ruth complains that she feels too ill from morning sickness to go to work; when Mrs Beckett tries to phone her daughter's workplace, she fails to get through because all non-essential phonelines have been cut. The Kemps are arguing over taking down doors to use for an improvised fallout shelter. Suddenly, the
four-minute warning sounds and Sheffield erupts into panic. A warhead detonates over the North Sea, creating an
electromagnetic pulse that disables vehicles and communications. Jimmy and Bob duck under a pickup truck, and the Kemps suddenly rush to take down the doors and put up their shelter. At 8:35 a second missile strike hits
RAF Finningley, a
NATO base near Sheffield, shattering windows and increasing panic.