Great show. That last scene. Not seen it for years. TV doesn’t do dispair now half as well as it did in the 80s.
We watched it in school in the 80s. Beats watching blue Peter.
Not sure I’d watch it again tbh. Scared the shit out of me and my mates back when it was first aired. We spent a long time wondering when the bomb would drop
I only know about this because they featured it in the goldbergs. No idea why it’s lost to history
Watched this recently on the Internet Archive. It’s absolutely worth at least one watch when/if you can (not sure if I can do it again for a while though). Honestly quite worrying that I’m not sure our current government would be any more effective than they were in the film lol
A government report found that if a nuclear bomb detonated in Sheffield, it could cause up to £500 worth of damage.
I’ve seen *Threads* several times and it never ceases to shock. But it is worth pointing out that it is actually based on a UK government exercise from 1980 which was criticised for being overly optimistic.
The Square Leg exercise was an emergency planning operation which worked with a simulated nuclear attack on the UK with a combined yield of 205 megatons (*Threads* uses a similar figure of 210 megatons). However the planners admitted that an attack of around 1000 megatons was more likely. Square Leg also (bizarrely) used a scenario in which the centre of London, where government buildings are housed, wasn’t bombed.
It’s reasoning for doing this was that, if they simulated for the more likely attack, no infrastructure whatsoever would have survived. So there would be nothing post-attack to plan, making the exercise a waste of time.
An unforgettable and indescribably bleak film. The bomb drop scene and immediate aftermath is the highest my heart rate has ever got by watching a film.
I first seen this in Primary School. Scared the shit out of me for like 2 weeks.
I was in my early 20’s and lived in Sheffield when it was shown.
For context my parents grew up in labour camps in Siberia during WW2, so I grew up knowing shit happens and you can’t control it.
The Cold War was a real thing when I was growing up and a nuclear winter was considered as not an if thing, but a when thing at the time.
I was in Berlin when the Wall went down and have pieces of it that I fucking chipped out myself with a hammer borrowed from an old man with only one arm who told me he had waited for decades to do this when I asked if he wanted some help.
Probably a good time to watch it, now we’re about to give Ukraine permission to strike deep into Russia.
There’s a scene in the briefest moment before the population centres were hit. In the distance to Sheffield, an RAF base has been destroyed by a single warhead.
The air roaring and screaming. The not so distant sky is lit up like Hell has been unleashed, yet the panic and chaos it’s the dogs across the city of Sheffield that disturb me the most.
They are all howling, crying out with pure instinct. They know something utterly terrible has happened and all trapped inside houses, flats etc.
They can not possibly comprehend the destruction that will be dealt out. Yet whatever is happening is so unnatural, so terrifying.
Most will burn to death or be crushed to death, literally ripped to pieces in the shock wave as they cower under tables and in rooms.
Never seen Threads. Have seen The War Game, (live in Kent so that one hits hard), War Games and When the Wind Blows though, and growing up in the 80’s was well aware that “there’s no such thing as a winnable war” and that “the living will envy the dead”.
From all accounts there’s dark and then there is Threads. Anyway if a nuclear war does ever occur I have a bottle of Demerara rum set aside and enough Propanolol so that I won’t survive.
Let’s all hope the Russians still love their children too.
It’s a slow burn to start but when it kicks off its truly terrifying. And when it shifts forward in time to focus on Britain as an ice age populated with a feral people desperate to survive then it becomes straight up apocalyptic horror. Pure agony to watch.
Amazing and under-rated film.
In the 80s, we had government advice on what to do in a nuclear attack. There were shelters. Now we have nothing and yet we are far closer to that reality than then.
I’m from Sheffield and watched it as a kid and was terrified. I watched it again a few years ago and all I could focus on was what buildings they’d knocked down, or built up, since then
The only film that has ever genuinely scared me properly. Watched it when it came out and jeez it was bleak.
I watched it years ago when living abroad with my wife. I only watched it because I was missing home and wanted to see Sheffield for a bit!
My wife was across the city at work and I sat in my own watching it, with no idea what I was getting into. The whole storyline of the couple that are trying to get back together hit me hard. All I could think was how would I find my wife if something like that happened when we were there.
When she got home I was a proper mess! She was really confused why I was being so weird. Especially when I was telling her about the 80s bbc drama that had destroyed me.
It’s by far the most moving thing I have ever watched. Plus I am shocked that no one had ever mentioned it or recommended to watch it; bearing in mind my home town is just outside Sheffield and I had lived and worked in Sheffield for years at this point
They showed us this at school, that was fun. Thankfully they didn’t also show us watership down and when the wind blows.
I laugh at all the “most disturbing film” posts but this genuinely fucked me up. I’ve watched it twice and no film or tv ever stayed with me like it.
The part that gets me is the ending where the teenagers are talking in broken English – society has fallen to such an extent that even the ability to teach the language has failed
I was shown this film in modern studies class in second year of high school so I was about 13.
Scared me shitless
The reality is that Britain would be obliterated. But we alone could take the Russians with us. It needs to be known that this is a no win scenario for all involved.
I’ve had this downloaded for ages, largely based off Reddit threads where it’s described as incredibly bleak, but I’ve never found a mood or occasion where I’d like to watch it. How do you get in the frame of mind to watch something that will apparently disturb you for a long time afterwards?
“To any would-be viewers: if you’re looking for a story with a happy or hopeful ending, this movie is not the way to go, and a strong stomach is pretty much mandatory. There are no jump scares, the Body Horror is tame by the standards of modern SFX, and there is little Gorn despite the ample opportunities the setting presents. Yet its strict adherence to a realistic portrayal of nuclear war and its after-effects makes it one of the scariest films ever made.”
24 comments
Great show. That last scene. Not seen it for years. TV doesn’t do dispair now half as well as it did in the 80s.
We watched it in school in the 80s. Beats watching blue Peter.
Not sure I’d watch it again tbh. Scared the shit out of me and my mates back when it was first aired. We spent a long time wondering when the bomb would drop
I only know about this because they featured it in the goldbergs. No idea why it’s lost to history
Watched this recently on the Internet Archive. It’s absolutely worth at least one watch when/if you can (not sure if I can do it again for a while though).
Honestly quite worrying that I’m not sure our current government would be any more effective than they were in the film lol
A government report found that if a nuclear bomb detonated in Sheffield, it could cause up to £500 worth of damage.
I’ve seen *Threads* several times and it never ceases to shock. But it is worth pointing out that it is actually based on a UK government exercise from 1980 which was criticised for being overly optimistic.
The Square Leg exercise was an emergency planning operation which worked with a simulated nuclear attack on the UK with a combined yield of 205 megatons (*Threads* uses a similar figure of 210 megatons). However the planners admitted that an attack of around 1000 megatons was more likely. Square Leg also (bizarrely) used a scenario in which the centre of London, where government buildings are housed, wasn’t bombed.
It’s reasoning for doing this was that, if they simulated for the more likely attack, no infrastructure whatsoever would have survived. So there would be nothing post-attack to plan, making the exercise a waste of time.
An unforgettable and indescribably bleak film. The bomb drop scene and immediate aftermath is the highest my heart rate has ever got by watching a film.
I first seen this in Primary School. Scared the shit out of me for like 2 weeks.
I was in my early 20’s and lived in Sheffield when it was shown.
Prior to that we had [When The Wind Blows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(1986_film)), an animated film which I actually found much more disturbing, as I was younger when I first saw it.
For context my parents grew up in labour camps in Siberia during WW2, so I grew up knowing shit happens and you can’t control it.
The Cold War was a real thing when I was growing up and a nuclear winter was considered as not an if thing, but a when thing at the time.
I was in Berlin when the Wall went down and have pieces of it that I fucking chipped out myself with a hammer borrowed from an old man with only one arm who told me he had waited for decades to do this when I asked if he wanted some help.
Probably a good time to watch it, now we’re about to give Ukraine permission to strike deep into Russia.
There’s a scene in the briefest moment before the population centres were hit. In the distance to Sheffield, an RAF base has been destroyed by a single warhead.
The air roaring and screaming. The not so distant sky is lit up like Hell has been unleashed, yet the panic and chaos it’s the dogs across the city of Sheffield that disturb me the most.
They are all howling, crying out with pure instinct. They know something utterly terrible has happened and all trapped inside houses, flats etc.
They can not possibly comprehend the destruction that will be dealt out. Yet whatever is happening is so unnatural, so terrifying.
Most will burn to death or be crushed to death, literally ripped to pieces in the shock wave as they cower under tables and in rooms.
Never seen Threads. Have seen The War Game, (live in Kent so that one hits hard), War Games and When the Wind Blows though, and growing up in the 80’s was well aware that “there’s no such thing as a winnable war” and that “the living will envy the dead”.
From all accounts there’s dark and then there is Threads. Anyway if a nuclear war does ever occur I have a bottle of Demerara rum set aside and enough Propanolol so that I won’t survive.
Let’s all hope the Russians still love their children too.
It’s a slow burn to start but when it kicks off its truly terrifying. And when it shifts forward in time to focus on Britain as an ice age populated with a feral people desperate to survive then it becomes straight up apocalyptic horror. Pure agony to watch.
Amazing and under-rated film.
In the 80s, we had government advice on what to do in a nuclear attack. There were shelters. Now we have nothing and yet we are far closer to that reality than then.
I’m from Sheffield and watched it as a kid and was terrified. I watched it again a few years ago and all I could focus on was what buildings they’d knocked down, or built up, since then
The only film that has ever genuinely scared me properly. Watched it when it came out and jeez it was bleak.
I watched it years ago when living abroad with my wife. I only watched it because I was missing home and wanted to see Sheffield for a bit!
My wife was across the city at work and I sat in my own watching it, with no idea what I was getting into. The whole storyline of the couple that are trying to get back together hit me hard. All I could think was how would I find my wife if something like that happened when we were there.
When she got home I was a proper mess! She was really confused why I was being so weird. Especially when I was telling her about the 80s bbc drama that had destroyed me.
It’s by far the most moving thing I have ever watched. Plus I am shocked that no one had ever mentioned it or recommended to watch it; bearing in mind my home town is just outside Sheffield and I had lived and worked in Sheffield for years at this point
They showed us this at school, that was fun.
Thankfully they didn’t also show us watership down and when the wind blows.
I laugh at all the “most disturbing film” posts but this genuinely fucked me up. I’ve watched it twice and no film or tv ever stayed with me like it.
The part that gets me is the ending where the teenagers are talking in broken English – society has fallen to such an extent that even the ability to teach the language has failed
I was shown this film in modern studies class in second year of high school so I was about 13.
Scared me shitless
The reality is that Britain would be obliterated. But we alone could take the Russians with us. It needs to be known that this is a no win scenario for all involved.
I’ve had this downloaded for ages, largely based off Reddit threads where it’s described as incredibly bleak, but I’ve never found a mood or occasion where I’d like to watch it. How do you get in the frame of mind to watch something that will apparently disturb you for a long time afterwards?
“To any would-be viewers: if you’re looking for a story with a happy or hopeful ending, this movie is not the way to go, and a strong stomach is pretty much mandatory. There are no jump scares, the Body Horror is tame by the standards of modern SFX, and there is little Gorn despite the ample opportunities the setting presents. Yet its strict adherence to a realistic portrayal of nuclear war and its after-effects makes it one of the scariest films ever made.”