Nuclear Broadcasting: What if Threads Happened?
Britain's limited nuclear schedule
Threads, the BBC’s nuclear horror-drama from 1984, continues to haunt my dreams. Its gut-wrenching, brutal honesty never fails to hit hard. From mass hysteria on the streets of Sheffield through to nuclear survivors gnawing on radioactive sheep, it’s a graphic, yet essential watch.
In the film, we see how public order swiftly collapses and the country struggles to get to its feet again. Most communications channels are damaged beyond repair and, of course, this leaves society in tatters. This is touched upon in Threads, but what would have actually happened to television in the event of all-out nuclear war in the mid-1980s?
Luckily, Broadcast magazine looked into this in 1984. I’ve provided the clippings below and it makes for grim reading indeed. It’s depressing that, at the time, there were 20 public information videos primed and ready to go which would instruct the public on how to prepare for nuclear war. Likewise, the prediction that our channels would rapidly become saturated with a nuclear obsession, and the launch of the Wartime Broadcasting Services (WTBS), instils a ghoulish feeling deep within the soul.
Perhaps most disturbingly is the fact that the WTBS may not even be able to broadcast. Ensuring the system was hardened against nuclear blast effects was unlikely due to a lack of investment. In all likelihood, television would be wiped out altogether. If it did somehow survive, broadcasts would be brief to preserve energy supplies.
It’s a fascinating article and, just like Threads, leaves you with a lingering sense of dread. As the article concludes, perhaps it would indeed be better to die than survive.
Nuclear war (or the possibility of) was almost an obsession by the time the 80s rolled around, probably more so as the 80s progressed. Previously the big obsession was UFOs, flying saucers and aliens from another planet, but that died off. I don’t think anyone sees, or think they see, UFOs anymore. People don’t seem to be concerned about nuclear war now either, perhaps because the nuclear threat has been there for so long, and I guess still is, that people have become complacent about it – a bit like the alien threat, it never or hasn’t happened yet, so it isn’t going to.