1984: The FALLOUT From THREADS | Did You See? | Classic TV Review | BBC Archive

[@Woke_White_Woman]

Threads: once seen never forgotten

[@sirbasilflapjack671]

I'm sorry, what was that?

[@lukemitchell1975]

@@Woke_White_Woman oow you'll be having nightmares for a while

[@MichaelRowe-cv3oq]

Why announce you are WOKE ?....it`s nothing to be proud of.

[@sirbasilflapjack671]

@@MichaelRowe-cv3oq Bored middle class, middle-aged housewife. Spends her weekends driving her SUV to an art gallery, chucking Daddy's Brown Sauce at a Matisse painting to relieve stress and get some attention.

[@ZigUncut]

and to think it was pulling it's punches. It would be much worse.

[@benjaminlee422]

I spoke with my mum who watched it when it first aired. She said she didn't sleep for three days afterwards. Threads is something everyone on the planet should see.

[@fredo1070]

We were shown Threads during an RE lesson aged 13 in 1984. I couldn't sleep for weeks. Still one of the most terrifying movies ever made.

[@nigelcarren]

Lucky you, at least you got out of RE! Each lesson, I had to try and divert a conversation about the prophet to a conversation about the Massey Ferguson tractor or The Paranormal. If I managed this, the blackboard was wiped clean and Mr Williams then spoke about tractors and ghosts for the rest of the lesson. Which was certainly more interesting than RE. Best wishes to you from a French forest (and no, I don't own a tractor) 😉👍🇬🇧

[@adamquirke6024]

@@nigelcarrencan’t ever reject information about anything. If I may make reference, religion is a ‘THREAD’ to society.

[@The-Punch-and-Jewdy-Show]

Same here.. I was scared of Zombie films at the time, but this was a life changer. I often wonder why the authorities thought it necessary to put such a horrific scenario into the mind of children.. I mean there’s not much we could do about it if it happened. Fear is something that is installed into us from early ages.. but this was totally inappropriate and unnecessary for children to watch.

[@AlexMitchell-i1g]

Why did teachers do that in the 80s? We never watched it at school, I saw it at home when it was first shown in 1984. We got to watch Gregory's Girl and Kes at school instead.

[@lisanassy-harrison8670]

Same though I was 14 and in grade 10 English class. It was that same year for me. Lived in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at the time.

[@Gerard_2024]

I miss those kind of programmes where articulate people expressed thoughtful opinions. The 80s was a good period for BritishTV.

[@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts]

Society in general was so different. People were better educated, not just academically, but in how to speak and their culture. People were proud that the English way was to be polite and reasonable, which means being able to consider several perspectives beyond their own and understand the validity of other points of view. That's how you have reasonable discussions where the speakers draw each other out rather than drown each other out. Now the 'car crash' telly mentality dominates, social media actively encourages extreme and polarised statements which are really only opinions and people define themselves by demonising others. I am what I'm not. We could get back to this, but we'd all have to make the sort of effort in self-discipline that people did in the war.

[@sandgrownun66]

Forget the articulation. Alan Plater's comb over is incredible.

[@menshevik1012]

@@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts…great name! Tess is such a sad story set in a beautiful (from a wealthy perspective) age. Hardy’s work, like Hugh Walpole seems to be being forgotten.

[@loiteringwithintent461]

Europe is also demographically a completely different place than in the 80s. Europe was better as a society when we were European​@@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts

[@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts]

@@menshevik1012 or reduced to the Hollywood treatment of a corset ripping mini serial full of painful anachronisms. Good writing is actually easier to study at school level because it is so rich. When a scholarly person is writing it is actually interesting fun to seek the influences and references. A lot of the modern work(the life of Pi for example) just doesn't have the depth to make it easy to study, analyse and then write about. Here,in his birthplace,we fight hard to keep him on the curriculum in local schools, even if the exam boards are not. Thank you for your compliment!

[@Semisonic56]

Threads was the most terrifying piece of television I have ever seen.

[@lukemitchell1975]

I agree. Grim film ive ever seen

[@sandgrownun66]

Closely followed by Alan Plater's comb over in this programme.

[@President44259]

No that's Mrs Brown's Boys.

[@jamesgornall5731]

@President44259 yes, Threads pipped to the post by that train wreck.

[@sandgrownun66]

@@geoff9759 "strickly"?

[@jamesgornall5731]

God, the attitude of the lady saying it was, 'fiction'. In truth, the reality may be far worse than we saw in Threads. I studied nuclear deterrence in university, and yes, if it dropped, I'd want to be straight underneath, drunk as a Lord. Even better, riding the thing as in Dr Strangelove.

[@BrockSamson-i1i]

basically, she was asking for a 'trigger' warning

[@honved1]

@@BrockSamson-i1iI doubt Edwina currie would ask for that

[@honved1]

And talking about “the blitz spirit”, a total myth.

[@Wulfyr]

I had read that "Threads" was based around the expectations during and after what the government called an "intermediate exchange". I guess that means that there are worse scenarios. That's sobering.

[@patdbean]

Yes, it was based on a 210mt attack. In the 1970s and 80s the UK government did a civil defence exercise every other year Called:- Inside right Squair leg Hard rock they were based on attacks between 50mItt and 300mt So yes 210mt is mid to high end.

[@CollinKelley]

When it was screened in America, I was expecting another soapy movie of the week like “The Day After.” Instead, it was terrifying and thought-provoking. I’ll never forget “Threads.”

[@donkfail1]

Sure, Threads was more impactful and horrifying, especially showing the aftermath in the longer timespan. But I think The Day After was just as just as good at pointing out the futility of the "solutions" that was prepared in the event; "Just scrape off the top soil" and continue producing crops. Lots of people trusted that we could just fix things after. I think they are both important for opening the public's eyes to the threat that had hovered over us for decades then, and not trusting that we were prepared for anything when it eventually happened. I still remember the attitude that it wasn't the thought of "IF it will happen", but rather "WHEN it will happen."

[@kengeorgejones6855]

The American equivalent to Threads would be Testament. Testament presents a positive surface, everyone banding together in tragedy, but everything still breaks down, anarchy takes over, and people slowly die.

[@TheLucanicLord]

The Day After is almost a musical in comparison.

[@PandemonicHypercube]

British people come from a more depressing country, which gives us the ability to make TV that's grim and brutal in a way that US TV isn't hahaha :)

[@donkfail1]

@@PandemonicHypercube American watching a British documentary: "What is this horrific tragic drama?" 😆

[@columm]

Lady Olga Maitland, the peerage, in classic 'dont inform the peasants, keep them in the dark and repressed' mode.

[@jimhigham]

Seems that all the Tories and military personnel we see in this clip are annoyed Threads existed. They seem to all reach for the “it’s not a documentary” line to discredit it. Nobody ever said that it was.

[@goodlookinouthomie1757]

She did seem to think that people were too stupid to realise it was not a documentary.

[@edgein7892]

@@goodlookinouthomie1757 I don't think it's just that. I've always thought that idiots like this just had a firm belief that if they got out of their bunker after one or two years they could just pick up again where they left off as if nothing ever happened. These people have never had any sense of reality to begin with, just as gullible as the characters in When The Wind Blows in my opinion.

[@Trund27]

@@goodlookinouthomie1757yeah, she really embarrassed herself.

[@DavidCarrol-i2q]

The incineration of the ET doll was a clever reference to The Day After and its relatively positive ending that a nuclear attack can be beaten and society rebuilt. Threads told the truth that society and humanity would be finished.

[@eccremocarpusscaber5159]

A few years ago, I decided to watch Threads again after 30 years. In those 30 years I have thought about it often, reflecting on the fears it gave me that never really went away. And…it had the same effect. I really wish I hadn’t. However, I would absolutely recommend that every person that is able should watch it once in their lives. An important piece of film.

[@michaelleacy]

I did the exact same thing a few years back. It had lost none of its impact, it was devastating. I will never watch it a 3rd time

[@StuMas]

We also were shown this film at the age of about 14. I suffered deep fear and depression in silence for maybe 10+ years afterwards. I don't think I would have been as affected if it had been a Hollywood movie but the familiarity of the locations made it all the more real for me.

[@robertwright8067]

Back in the day when we had thoughtful and intelligent programmes and discussions on the TV.

[@stuartsaint4581]

So Edwina Currie has always been as dim as a broken lightbulb

[@joshuasmith6439]

that's what she wants you to think....people forget during this time this was when her affair with future PM John Major was starting up and she wouldn't hear anything being criticized for her own personal motives.

[@vanderark89]

I really enjoyed that discussion. Alan Plater made in endorsing the strength of Barry Hines script and the acting was very important. Threads is a work of art. A brutal piece of art but necessary especially at that time. No we don’t know exactly what will happen in a nuclear war as there are so many variables but Threads is a superb examination of a horrific topic.

[@onlyme219]

this movie ‘threads’ is on youtube, may be dated but still the scariest drama I’ve ever watched, not for the faint hearted

[@gwheregwhizz]

Before Edwina appears on television, there should be a four minute warning.

[@notreallydavid]

Enough time to boil an egg. (One for the kids.)

[@andrewdavidson665]

@@notreallydavid more like enough time to take off some doors and build an inner refuge.

[@richardmark561]

Yeah attack warning red attack warning red

[@JasonC1782]

Edwina Currie has always been beyond the pale.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

As was John Major’s skin in Spitting Image…

[@stevedickson5853]

Now we have the Starmerdroid

[@Kool-AidAbstainer]

Edwina Currie, née Cohen

[@sandgrownun66]

@Kool-AidAbstainer who knows.

[@jamesgornall5731]

@JasonC1782 the only thing worse than what she was saying is the mental image of her and John Major shagging.

[@ahabsrevenge]

This is fascinating. Having only watched the film in the last ten years I was always interested in how it was received. As shocking now as it was then. This is what the BBC is for.

[@sandgrownun66]

It's just a shame that the BBC seems to have forgotten what it's for.

[@paxamericanafilms]

I always felt that the breakdown in language in the film, as mentioned by the panelists here, was, in an Edward Munch sort of way, a clever device to express the almost inexpressible horror of nuclear war, and to reflect or echo the breakdown in communication, in diplomacy that would have precipitated such an eventuality in the first place. You see a similar deterioration in the speech of Florya, the main character in Elem Klimov’s Come and See, and in that film, it rather effectively articulates a similar numb, shell-shocked speechlessness that such profound trauma might well induce

[@Jackspiring]

Well said! Come and See was equally harrowing to watch, maybe even moreso in places

[@mathewgreen4099]

It’s interesting that they interviewed Russell Hoban. His book Riddely Walker (set 2,000 years after a nuclear war) specifically uses a broken form of English. That & the muddle of half-remembered ideas & meanings creates a very disjointed & at times, difficult to understand story. 👍

[@repboy1]

Being a kid in the 80s I always remember the threat of nuclear war and how the play made me realize we have zero chance if we ever do it.

[@SusanBlakely-pd6mp]

Terrified the life out of me as a kid watching Edwina, still does, nightmares for months on end.

[@marksc111]

Hahaha

[@pixie3458]

She's disingenuous

[@securityrobot]

It’s all heavy water under the bridge now.

[@JamesLumb-tp4ph]

Heavy water.. 👍 very good. I get it 💥

[@googlymoogly9884]

As an 11 year old boy from Sheffield witnessing the nuclear annihilation of my hometown in full colour was pretty difficult. We were all made to watch it at school before lunch one day. The dinner time kickabout straight after was a little more subdued than usual.

[@Chillmax]

Looking back now, you really could ask, why on earth were children upset in this way, it was totally unecessary either way.

[@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts]

I can't believe that schools were making children watch this 😱 And at 11!? My parents had a row about whether I was going to watch it at 15! I wanted to,my dad and I won, but it haunted me forever. I was standing on a ladder painting a kitchen wall when a friend rang me all breathless and demanded I drop everything and put the television on. The date was the 11 th of September 2001 and I thought straight away of the opening scenes of Threads. It's a powerful and deeply important film that I don't think anyone would have the courage to allow to be made today, but absolutely, definitely not for children!

[@AlexMitchell-i1g]

Same here, was 11 at the time and also from Sheffield, hence why I wanted to watch it. Wish I hadn't asked my parents and gone to bed instead. Past my bedtime.

[@NetIncomeBuilder]

Hey, at least it wasn't Watership Down

[@AlexMitchell-i1g]

@NetIncomeBuilder hahaha yeah! That was worse!

[@gunner678]

The level of destruction inflicted on Sheffield was shocking, at least £15 worth......(sick joke borrowed from the office)! However Threads is a brilliant and accurate depiction of nuclear war. Take notice, we are close to it yet again.

[@Nick-io9uk]

You may jest, but I also learnt from this very channel that TV ownership in Sheffield in 1985 was higher than in London in the same year.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Sheffield was chosen as it was a nuclear free zone.

[@orangelazarus91]

Edwina Curry on Jimmy Savile: “we enabled him, because we all knew.”

[@smcneill8082]

It was rough going watching this in school in the early 90s, even after the Cold War was finished. It still gave you the fear. But yes, a brilliant and essential piece of TV.

[@zamiadams4343]

It terrified the life out of me as a kid watching it and it still does to this day, brilliant film.

[@jamesgornall5731]

Gah, scariest film ever. Made 'The Day After' look like Toy Story.

[@david-spliso1928]

The Day After did something positive, though, by causing the President to want to work all the more with Gorbachev to cooperate on more peaceful relations.

[@AlexMitchell-i1g]

I watched The Day After recently, I thought it was quite grim and disturbing too. Threads just took it to another level though.

[@daviddowsett1658]

@@david-spliso1928 Yep, scared the bejesus out of Ragan, and this was a man that had access to all the facts/intelligence, I suppose being an ex-actor it only became relevant when he seen it in film.

[@jamesgornall5731]

@@daviddowsett1658 wonder if he ever saw Threads?

[@aidanmercer9422]

Threads: Once you watch it, it stays with you forever.

[@SamLowryDZ-015]

As sure as eggs are eggs Edwina Currie is always wrong

[@wingnut71]

But she has as right about the eggs was she not?

[@OccupationalPhenomenology]

Good to have a balanced discussion - on the one hand the erudite analysis of Mary Midgely and on the other Edwina Curry.

[@weedfreer]

...who brought what exactly to the party? ...or, was that your point? 😂

[@OccupationalPhenomenology]

@ Mary Midgely brought erudition and insightful analysis… and Edwina Curry didn’t.

[@weedfreer]

@@OccupationalPhenomenology …which is as I thought you meant. As you were! ☺️

[@danpipe9311]

Good God, what drugs or money-back handed game was Edwina Currie on? Absolutely hat stand.

[@andrewphippsphillips1455]

Great observation and I like the Roger Irrelevant Viz reference 👍

[@bganonimouse2754]

You can always count on the pro-nuclear conservative viewpoint of "let's talk about the spirit of the British during the Blitz" and "why can't we be positive" (the screech of government whenever it tries to deflect any criticism) when we are discussing potential nuclear holocaust.

[@MrZauberelefant]

Tories never change. Truly the worst of the bunch. The Slytherin of parties

[@SugaryGoodnesss]

@@MrZauberelefantyeah cuz our current Labour government are so noble and honest 😂

[@kieranwhite6647]

It's bleak and grim viewing, but it's so important. Every adult should be made to watch Threads

[@garyturner5739]

Even our politicians should see it.

[@kieranwhite6647]

@garyturner5739 Especially our politicians

[@mephistoXFC459V]

To the lady at 5:29, it was a dramatization but it was not "pure fiction".

[@TheCho-k4m]

She was both a fantacist and fascist. Nasty piece of work was Lady Olga.

[@thewisestman1]

Only saw it recently, thirty years after it was made. Brilliant. One striking thing was how those who purport to be protecting us and rebuilding, actually just looked after their own interests and left the rest of us to go to the dogs.

[@grissom2023]

It was funny how the guy got his wife to bring him some clothes etc and didn't seem to care about his wife/kids😂👍🇮🇪🇷🇺

[@jdeeeeeeeee]

christ what an absolute melt currie was

[@IMHAVINHOOPS]

*Is

[@NikHYTWP]

One scene I remember finding particularly traumatizing, is when children are shown getting rudimentary education. They're all watching a tape on a half-broken tape machine hooked up to a barely working TV, and on the video you see a pre-war teacher showing off animal skeletons. I felt so bad for the kids, firstly this made me realize how little education they're getting and secondly imagine how they feel seeing the clean pre-war world that they never got to live in.

[@Loganberrybunny]

I always found that one of the scariest parts, still do, simply because they didn't make up a fictional show. In 1984 pretty much every kid would have seen "Words and Pictures" at school (I did) and recognised that theme tune instantly. Cheerful, upbeat, totally jarring with the reality of the post-war world.

[@NikHYTWP]

@Loganberrybunny Oooh I didn't realize it was an actual show, that's pretty chilling. I remember at one point shortly before the bombs drop there's a scene where they're watching TV (in a pub or at home I can't remember) and you hear the Tomorrow's World theme too

[@lorcanfeely6371]

I remember the woman pissing herself

[@SprattyD]

That part freaked me out a lot as well, more so on an existential level as the video mentions the skeletons being borrow from a museum. Like would the kids even know what a museum is? it would be like telling them about an international airport!, the steam traction engine shown in the pictures just before that would have probably come from the remains of a museum. If anything museums were probably picked apart for old technology that could be useful again.

[@Loganberrybunny]

@ Definitely. One reason Roman ruins like the Colosseum are so, well, ruined is that for a thousand years after the Roman Empire ended the stones were quarried for use in building other things.

[@Jackspiring]

I only watched this film recently and it’s harrowing, i feel like it should be mandatory viewing for any country with nuclear arms capability

[@Bingpot_Cowabunga]

If only the BBC had warned everyone about Jimmy Saville

[@alanknight3778]

I remember how upset the government were by this program. They felt, quite rightly, that it showed nuclear devastation as somehow a 'Bad Thing' and failed to show the lighthearted, amusing side of such shenanigans.

[@jonathancole833]

19:44 Comedy gold... Clearly the makers of Threads slipped up - they should have had a Thora Hird-type character leading a good old sing-song after the survivors emerged from the rubble...

[@markholohan4446]

Edwina being Edwina. Awful woman. Always toeing the Tory party line.

[@dreamclaw00]

You just gave me a Josie Lawrence flashback: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoG1h6qmqJmUers

[@jonathancole833]

@@dreamclaw00 Brilliant! Although the more I think of it, if the Bomb really did drop it might indeed be better to descend into that sort of madness than have to contemplate the stark reality of the situation!

[@dreamclaw00]

@ So true!

[@johnathanryan2117]

Up there with the best horror films ever made , even though thats not what its meant to be. They showed us the film in school in 1992 , in a rowdy English class that the teacher had trouble controlling. You could hear a pin drop afterwards. Set less than an hour away so really drove it home. Belting telly.

[@TheFinalMinutes]

Everyone should see Threads. Its high time for a modern remake.

[@michellegordon456]

Please no remake they aren't as good

[@daviddowsett1658]

@@michellegordon456 But just think what they could do if they do with it if they did not gloss over it with todays technology

[@neilmckay8649]

I reckon that the next pandemic will be a computer virus that brings the world to a halt.

[@TheFinalMinutes]

@@michellegordon456 an updated version is the best option - times have changed and a new version needs to reflect the world we live in. Things have changed since the 80's and we now have more states armed with nukes - a revised version could look at the impact on several families globally. Could be an interesting mini series.

[@michellegordon456]

@TheFinalMinutes that is a very good idea, but sometimes these days you can't offend or upset anyone, it would be a shame if it ended up like the stuff Hollywood pumps out today best wishes

[@david-spliso1928]

Probably the best piece of television ever made.

[@vivienneandersson6019]

I watched it at the time and when I tell young people how close we came to nuclear war they cannnot believe it, those Protect and Survive films were truly chilling.

[@richardsmith4992]

Mad Edwina Currie - "A much more positive view altogether...".

[@johnathanryan2117]

She ate some egg butties in the canteen before she came on.

[@cidercik]

Any time I start to think Major is even a tiny bit good, I just remember he had an affair (not just one night!) with this creature and that wipes it out immediately.

[@thefreckledcormarant6431]

Russell Hoban's contribution at 6:24 is especially eloquent. And again at 9:50.

[@lukemitchell1975]

I watched few days ago. The bit in the hospital made me scared

[@boilerroombob]

Excellent commentary thanks for uploading....keep up the good work on this channel

[@jonnytootall1239]

I watched it in 1984 when it was first aired and watched my home city of Sheffield being obliterated, I will never forget it

[@davidw5647]

It's about time the BBC redid threads for the modern era and bring this world to its senses!

[@grissom2023]

The BBC? They'd have Russia,China & N.Korea as the ones starting WW3. At the moment it's the US/West and all their proxy wars which are causing the problems.👍🇮🇪🇷🇺

[@sirbasilflapjack671]

Nonsense and lies. That young man did NOT die in the Sheffield nuclear holocaust, as I saw him a couple of years later playing John Thaw's wayward son in Home To Roost.

[@AlexMitchell-i1g]

@sirbasilflapjack671 hahaha, yes true! Reece Dinsdale. Also in Corrie for awhile I believe.

[@grissom2023]

😂😂😂😂👍🇮🇪🇷🇺

[@PleiadesImprezaT2000AWD-l4l]

And Ruth was the teacher in Johnny Briggs.

[@AlexMitchell-i1g]

@@PleiadesImprezaT2000AWD-l4l oh yeah! Forgot all about that!

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

I remember the next day... many people seemed in shock at what they had watched the night before.

[@RolandoRatas]

1:48 Nuclear Armageddon but all that matters is that my plastic Palitoy Star Wars figures survived the blast and my Warhammer ones also.

[@TheLucanicLord]

They chose Sheffield so they wouldn't need any special effects. But test shots looked overdone and so they had to tidy the place up a bit.

[@Azphreal]

Saw it while at school and have seen it as an adult and it still hits the same.

[@sandgrownun66]

Alan Plater's comb over is incredible.

[@Nick-io9uk]

Quite. I keep trying to listen to them but find myself drawn to it. Its mesmerizing & reduces all their intellectual chatterings to mere background noise. You have to wonder what is the point. If it was an ornate creation like that of Anthony Bennett, where the scalp is largely concealed by a beautiful nest of fluff, then fine, but the 'roof' of the combover so to speak starts almost behind his ears, so half the offending area remains open to the elements.

[@sandgrownun66]

@@Nick-io9uk It's so obvious, it's distracting. Almost on a par with Robert Robinson, and Arthur Scargill, or Rab C Nesbitt in the photo both. You weren't fooling anybody guys about being bald. Also, imagine all the effort of keeping those strands in place on a windy day. At least people like Joe Rogan and Dana White admit it, and go for the shaven look.

[@markeastwood74]

I'm so relieved I waited 40 years to watch it. The Day After was bad enough at the time, but this would've scarred me for life.

[@winedemonium]

Brilliant having Edwina Currie up against the two others, as she seemed to personify the insanity of the 'nuclear deterrent' so well. A lot of people in 1984 would have agreed with her. I watched Threads on TV that year, aged 12. It terrified me, and fascinated me (in particular the loss of language that Alan Plater comments on). That was in New Zealand, which went 'nuclear free' that same year. I imagine Threads played a role in the groundswell of popular opinion in NZ for that move, for although at the height of the Cold War NZ had plenty of Edwina Curries of its own, by the time the government changed to a conservative (National) one in 1990, the nuclear-free position was cemented, and has endured, such was the feeling that this was insane, and we needed to take a stand, even though it effectively also ended a defence pact. Anyway, I wish the BBC Archive could make Threads available in full to watch. I imagine it would still be a powerful watch, and its needed now more than ever.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

Threads is available on BBC iPlayer.

[@winedemonium]

@@stickytapenrust6869 Great to know that. Unfortunately I'm not in the UK.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

@@winedemonium Use a VPN.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

@@winedemonium I don’t know why my reply keeps disappearing but use a Virtual Private Network.

[@winedemonium]

@@stickytapenrust6869 thanks. I watched it last night. It stands the test of time in my view. No sugar coating.

[@bopper942]

Nice diss of The Day After

[@jkmac625]

I was 11 at the time this was broadcast but I didn't get to see it until many years later when I was in my late 20's. However at school we did get to see Z for Zachariah (BBC 1984 version) which was along similar lines but set in Wales.

[@briandoyle6188]

I remember one thing that shocked a lot of people was seeing the lady involuntary losing control of her bladder..my older brother was in the British army and he brought back folders about nuclear and biological attacks and chemical attacks on Britain and what would happen and me being curious I read about the nuclear weapon attack so I already had a little knowledge like electricity being shorted,dust,nuclear wind,radiated heat and the range of weapons and were I lived within 10 miles was Europe's largest refinery and a nuclear fuel repurposing plant at capenhurst where my father worked..I think what threads did was to open people's eyes to the totality of the destruction and the man couldn't even start his van because it had been shorted out by electrical part of a nuclear weapon so straight away the threads of ordinary life start to be cut .. Barry Hines made a great film on a budget that's still being discussed and he wrote my favorite KES 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿❤️...

[@markderoller7645]

I saw this when i was a kid. Still remember some scenes

[@djdrunkenmonkey2]

we got shown this on VHS recorded from BBC2 in the early 90s at school, scared the hell out of us

[@radomu1]

Fascinating clip from the past, but I'm absolutely baffled by the lack of discussion on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities that were actually hit by a nuclear weapon. It's not like the world couldn't have imagined what being under a nuclear armageddon was like when there literally were people in Japan who actually experienced and survived a nuclear blast.

[@obscuremusictabs5927]

are you saying All Nuclear Blasts Matter?

[@JonMurray]

Agreed.

[@ProfessorBernardFuck]

I think because by the 1980s, the types of bomb being used made both Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs look like pop guns. A nuclear holocaust would have global impacts that simply didn't exist in ww2

[@david-spliso1928]

Yes but both those cities weren't nearly as devastated as what would happen in an all out war with hydrogen bombs. 15 kilotons vs. 1 megaton is a huge difference. Look at Hiroshima today and it's a thriving city. If you didn't know about it you wouldn't think downtown was once flattened by an airburst atom bomb.

[@johnbull1986]

Comparing apples and oranges

[@MrBannystar]

I first saw this 4 years ago, still haven't recovered.

[@JamesLumb-tp4ph]

It's amazing that after 40 years, it still has the power to shock.. It was repeated in the UK last year, and drew shock & acclaim from modern audiences.. Everyone should watch it..

[@daviddowsett1658]

The older lady there was taking more sense that the others combined, and Tory Curry's view is just plain stupid, wishing they could of shown the survivors clubbing together like in the Blitz, what drugs was she on?

[@Houseofweird]

Typical Tory nonsense, evoking the "Blitz Spirit" and making ordinary people responsible for their emotional reaction to the situations that their governments create.

[@adamsaunders3413]

A stronger age. It would be cancelled today. Must see Film. Terrifying and accurate

[@sarahlouise7163]

i was depressed for weeks, barely ate anything for a fortnight. can't recall when i watched it, but i was a teen.

[@cidercik]

And then how many viewers voted to be isolationist since 2016, both in the US and UK. Voting for people that should never be in the same building, never mind room with the 'red button'. 9:37 doubt this guy would say the same thing now.

[@dreamclaw00]

I saw this one night when my parents were out. I was 10. I only got two thirds of the way through, until the trauma was too much for my fragile little brain. I got it on Blu Ray recently and it's one of the best films of the 80's imo. An amazing piece of work.

[@dean6816]

We were made to watch this at school! The film was 10 years old when we watched it but it still had the desired effect!!

[@honeybadger6313]

This movie haunts because watching it you know there is nothing to look forward to. No happy endings.

[@ChooChooTheCat8899]

I used to enjoy this show, often you would get differences of opinion of course and good insights into the programme being discussed ❤.

[@David_Gawne]

Watching these clips from the 50s 60s 70s and 80s makes you feel like once upon a time the world was run by genuine adults not the kindergarten ridiculousness of today. I cant think of one mainstream program on television today that has these kind of thoughtful discussions by adults. Now its a bunch of love island morons complaining about the pressures of 'fame' and someone made a bad comment about them on Instagram. As a race we really have de-evolved.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Unfortunately that is only an impression. They were no better than those elected today.

[@diabolicalartificer]

The Air Vice Marshall said at 9:38 "It'll simply never happen" - it's 2025 & from where I'm sitting that statement is utter rubbish. I've a feeling of impending doom, just like I had in the 80's. Aside from a nuclear holocaust the chances of societal breakdown because of resource depletion etc also feels more imminent.

[@ComaDave]

It nearly DID happen...twice...only the year before the film aired.

[@MrDannyDetail]

Is it me or did Mary Midgeley speak like she was always right on the edge of a really big belch?

[@hihowareyouthen]

Yeah... felt like her food was "repeating" on her, so to speak.

[@thebeardedone3325]

Here in 2025 and Threads is still absolutely terrifying and I'll never forget what I've seen..

[@mattymoowhite]

Christopher Kitchens said " I grew up with the fear: what would the world be like if some autocratic despot got their hands on nuclear weapons?, and we're about to find out '

[@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts]

It's mind boggling. Watching everyone cravenly sucking up to the orange monster while he threatens invasions and his puppet master is trying to whip up discord in European countries as though being the de facto president of the US isn't enough for him, he's trying to destabilise Germany and the United Kingdom too. Yep. Let's hope we're not 😬

[@sarahlouise7163]

[@JugglinJellyTake01]

Edwina Currie on the spirit of the blitz when people had to protest to shelter in the underground and snobs had no rations on game in their country homes. Spirit of the blitz when millions have their skin falling off and dying of radiation sickness? Completely loopy.

[@MrItsme73]

I'd be crying uncontrolably if I'd just had a perm like that..

[@merseydave1]

At this moment in time the 10th of January 2025 Threads the documentary drama is on B.B.C. I player.

[@katywalker8322]

Not sure if I have ever seen it the whole way through in 1 go. But it is a hard film, and probably a realistic scenario. The Day After was far more mild. Possibly more disturbing was When The Wind Blows, despite being animation.

[@xav500011]

Really good critical thinking in this discussion. I can't remember the last time BBC showed something as good as this in a long time.

[@TheLucanicLord]

9:37 Nobody will, until they do. It nearly happened in the Cuban prayer book panic and it nearly happened when a Soviet warning system went doolally and mistook the sunrise for a missile launch. Then another time some thick eyebrowed oaf thought an attack was imminent because the cleaners left the lights on at the MOD. And that's just the ones we know about. 14:05 It has though. It's why French and Spanish aren't Latin. And an entire dialect of Greek was totally lost in about 1100 BC due to a collapse in the Mediterranean.

[@matthewhendy5785]

This should be shown as much as possible to as wide an audience as possible.

[@orourkeda]

If you survive physically, there isn't a snowballs chance in hell you'd be able to cope psychologically with the aftermath of a nuclear attack.

[@Problembeing]

I would love to see the other two programs that accompanied Threads as discussed in this wonderful clip.

[@stephensimpson4022]

They’re on KZbin .

[@Problembeing]

@ would you mind telling me what they’re called? Thanks 🙌

[@NathanF11989]

@@Problembeing One is called On the 8th Day, about the effects of a nuclear winter, and the other is a BBC Newsnight discussion. Type in Newsnight Threads 1984 and you should find it.

[@mattwennington258]

QED - A Guide to Armageddon & The War Game....both worth a watch.

[@Problembeing]

@ thank you 🙏 will give those a look. Appreciate that.

[@LaRusso]

Watched it a few months ago and yep can confirm it was depressing.

[@prismaticmarcus]

I watched it 40 years ago and have never forgotten it. It demonstrated two things: the horror of nuclear war and the power of great television. Perhaps the BBC will be able to produce something similar about climate change.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Oh the irony. The YT algorithm just gave me an ad for Sheffield Hallam University...

[@buttershy_]

threads was utterly horrifying, but actually downplayed. if you look deep into the details of the impact in hiroshima and nagasaki, it's so much worse

[@jimsimpson1006]

I think the production team actually did a very good job of it considering what was available in 1984. Even with the special effects they have nowadays, recreating the full horror of the aftermath of a nuclear bomb would still be a near impossible task.

[@therespectedlex9794]

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are now very inhabitable places.

[@buttershy_]

@jimsimpson1006 i think if it got any more accurate, it would be too disturbing and gruesome to air! they depicted it as well as they could to get through to everyone just how horrific it is, even in a TV-ified way

[@therespectedlex9794]

@buttershy_ I said it once, I've been deleted once. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are habitable, i.e., completely safe places to live. Not unsafe due to radiation, that is. So, how does anyone even know they were nuclear attacks?

[@BeesWaxMinder]

V E R Y memorable...

[@davidclarke6658]

I remember my parents talking about the threat of nuclear war as a kid.

[@john-s3w6c]

I completely gave up on life after watching threads. I started drinking, smoking and having sex. I was 10 at the time. Great job BBC......

[@grissom2023]

😂😂👍🇮🇪🇷🇺

[@Dalabombana]

Saw this at school after exams. Stayed with me for years.

[@pickledegg1989]

Mary Midgley was FIERCE.

[@tomservo5007]

the old general 'no one is going to use them, not Russia, not China, not the US', clearly he hasn't thought about Middle Eastern countries

[@hunterelliott4772]

The USA already used 2 of them so why wouldn’t they use them again.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

​@@hunterelliott4772and as yet they never have. Even in the darkest days of the Korean War.