Nuclear attack | Would you survive the bomb? | Thames Reports | 1980

This edited down version of a 'Thames Reports' feature by respected journalist and novelist Angela Lambert focuses on how ill prepared London would be, if a nuclear attack were to happen. Reminiscent of the BAFTA award winning BBC TV drama 'Threads' (although this report was transmitted three years earlier) 'Would you survive the bomb' was first broadcast on Thames Television in 1980
First shown: 28/02/1980
If you would like to license a clip from this video please e mail:
[e-mail]
Quote: VT22614

[@DanMcCudden]

"Should I take my quilt to keep warm, mum?" "No, dear, we'll all be warm enough on the day."

[@lw3646]

To survive a nuclear war for the long term you will need warm clothes its likely huge amounts of smoke and dust would become lodged in the atmosphere blocking out the sunlight for months, temperatures would plumit to freezing even in the summer months. Global famine would also kill billions.

[@keithmartin1328]

A very English response.

[@davidhooper1767]

​@@keithmartin1328Well it won't be a 1 megaton warhead it will 20-30 and not just one.These will be thermonuclear or hydrogen warheads.

[@Johnclewes]

In the event of a full scale nuclear exchange the survivors of any nearby detonation would be extremely unfortunate as they would have to deal with deadly radioactive fall out, the complete disintegration of civilised society, law & order, food distribution etc, etc, and living in a potentially targeted UK inner city, I sincerely hope the missile lands on top of my head . I think Einstein once said the real victims of a nuclear war would be the survivors, and I wholeheartedy agree ,

[@tedski69]

I don't think I'd want to survive. I Think I'd prefer to be standing right next to the bomb when it blows.

[@deancarter2490]

yeah, the cancer on any survivors would be nasty !

[@mxferro]

We will put you front row seat .."butter on your popcorn?"

[@Johnclewes]

@@mxferro As someone once said, in the event of a nuclear attack, put your head between your knees and kiss your ass--hole goodbye !!!

[@europa2000man]

I don’t care what anyone says, there’s no point in surviving a nuclear war. Even if most people survived, society would never be the same again. No food, no water, no electricity, no life in general. Everything would be miserable and traumatising.

[@ainsleystones4600]

I was about the same age as the lad in the video in 1980 and I have to say that as a kid it was a genuinely scary time.

[@benzade8199]

Anyone else think that Mr Davis in this report looks like "Jeffery Fourmile" from the TV sitcom "George & Mildred"?

[@NMeyer0]

Staines wiped out?! Oh no! Poor Ali G

[@storm3698]

Lol and not to mention the £5 worth of damage. Aaiii

[@cliveevans9795]

And Ashford

[@WarrenCromartie2]

In reality, government always knew that we didn't stand a chance of survival in the event of war. Being such a small and densely populated island, our losses would be off the chart. That's why we never had a costly and robust civil defence strategy. There was no point. It would have been a waste of peace time money, and the cold reality is, the more people who died the better, because any remaining resources there were would go further among the surviving elites and politicians.

[@patdbean]

Yes, the line from the BBC film threads comes to mind "in the grim economics of the aftermath a surviver who can work get more food than one who can't, and the more who die the more food is left for the rest"

[@SJ-oi7tk]

7:37 "67% of Londoners believe - wrongly - that the majority would die"... wrongly? Lol, no dear, that is extremely accurate common sense. In fact, 67% of Londoners likely burst out laughing when you asked the question.

[@wisteela]

I have the complete programme on a U-Matic tape, but not a machine to play it. Nice being able to see some of this for the first time.

[@spacewurm]

The missiles at beginning of video are actually surface-to-air, not nuclear anything.

[@bigbowlowrong4694]

Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder

[@adrianh332]

Some Soviet surface to air missiles were nuclear tipped.

[@PanzerFalcon2232]

@@bigbowlowrong4694 i understood that reference!

[@collegeman1988]

That whole "Protect and Survive" looks like it was designed with World War II in mind, before there were nuclear weapons.

[@nopcshere6097]

It was designed with nuclear weapons in mind, but certainly not of the magnitude of today (or even 20 years ago).

[@povmcdov]

Is this available anywhere in its entirety? I'm a bit of a student of cultural impacts of nuclear weapons. I collect films like this and have never heard of this one before.

[@nickforbes-warren6602]

Yeah, like the Brownie Annual and Judy For Girls would be effective against radiation poisoning . . .

[@MrSstiel]

If we had the civil defence of Sweden or Switzerland, most of our population could survive. I'm really afraid about the Ukraine conflict, particularly since Russian nuclear forces still exist.

[@JesterEric]

Most of the Swedes and Swiss would survive long enough to starve to death in the nuclear winter. Southern hemisphere is the only hope for civilization surviving

[@NODDINGCAT]

Grab that table over there andrew. Now we're sorted

[@whatamalike]

'Stay in your own home and look after yourself'- How very Thatcherite ;)

[@crazyleyland5106]

Same response to Covid as well. And also, as the Grenfell disaster revealed; if you live in a block of flats, and one of the other flats catches fire - "Stay put."

[@richardsawyer5428]

I was one of those thinking "Well as I live in London, I'll be vapourised before I even realise it." What's the point of a shelter? It would at best prolong the agony.

[@storm3698]

You could also make yourself a nice brew in a chocolate teapot once your fantasy world nuclear shelter is made

[@grandadgamer8390]

Stay put, never leave London! Think of the house prices, even after nuclear holocaust 😅

[@deancarter2490]

yeah LOL !!!

[@billybhoy32]

Build a sturdy shelter to survive a 3000 C fire haha

[@khiggins8733]

The people in the southeast of the U.K. especially London would be the lucky ones as the end would be instantaneous rather than a long drawn out death for those in the rest of the country.

[@barbaraannecortina7899]

how long was the original feature, why couldn't you post it in its entirety and where can I get the full feature?

[@fulanitoflyer]

Hi, Do you have the full version?

[@mcfcguvnors]

think this was a london news one off

[@me19276]

months, days or hours notice...we'll be lucky to get a 5 minute warning...the sooner we get a warning the sooner we start to loot and run amok.

[@Zonker66]

Did that man use refuse bags to hold back radiation? We're so boned.

[@adambradshaw86]

And some chipboard. Don’t forget the chipboard.

[@trevormillar1576]

"....and if you hear knocking at your door, don't open it, it's the zombies". - "Protect & Survive".

[@MikeTheBike58]

There is a good bit of concrete support there,we'll be alright. Oh and another jem,kid-"Mum shall I keep my duvet to keep warm". Nah I think the Russians have you covered there.

[@HrD965]

Back when London used to be an okay place

[@mcfcguvnors]

how can a govt help you when they are 200 feet below ground in rendlesham forest ? problem with protect & survive was in order to run off the 36 million copies required would take 4 weeks - which sucks if u only have a 5 minute warning !

[@MrAlwaysBlue]

I spent my teens worrying that I would wake up to news of Russian tanks breaching the West German border. I finally woke up to Russian tanks breaching the Ukraine border.

[@olivere5497]

Ironiclly the russians are driving the exact same tanks which are now old bangers.

[@lw3646]

It was a real fear, the USSR outnumbered Nato 6:1 in Germany, 10:1 in terms of artillery.

[@DjBuddhaInBlack]

No one above ground would survive an H bomb attack. If the heat doesn't kill you, the blast would or the fall out. In Switzerland and other parts of Europe, houses are mandated to have nuclear shelters below ground.

[@nathanhickton]

5:52 - kelvedon hatch?

[@freedomvigilant1234]

Quite possibly... The bungalow is certainly a match. However, there were other bunkers built to a similar plan and layout.

[@crazyleyland5106]

It looks like it to me. It's where Mrs. Thatcher would have hidden if she'd been in this part of the country. There were 3 other bunkers built to that design in Britain, but there were other bunkers built with a guardhouse made to look like an ordinary 1950s chalet- Bawdsey for example.

[@kollusion1]

Don't forget your toothbrush. To clean your Newtons before they all fall out due to radiation, & lack of any nutrition at all.

[@giogio4833]

Youve ad it .ant yer

[@andiepasdedeux6576]

No use cryin' over spilt mik, is there?

[@davidhooper1767]

Having watched Threads when younger and own it on disc its no joke what would happen to the uk.

[@RJM1011]

People thought there would be shelters truth is there were none ever built for public use.

[@edenhazard6358]

Cheerful souls back then.

[@14DENISS88]

Protect and survive, my arse. More like pretend and die while being together.

[@gordanazakula5669]

88; Those " Protect and Survive" leaflets/films made me laugh. How can building a shelter in your house, protect against heat vaporisation, and a blast that would destroy buildings?

[@PoltergeistFilm1982]

Pure evil.

[@johnhewlett1628]

I live in Bournemouth so I may stand a chance

[@christophernicholls4893]

John Hewlett 😂😂😂

[@RJM1011]

Depends what part of Bournemouth ??

[@andymerrett]

Probably not much. The airport might be relatively small but still a target, as would Southampton. Plus naval bases in Portsmouth.

[@grahamfisher5436]

Apart from Boscombe down Being right by you

[@mitchkeller5055]

How utter fucking useless that book would be

[@maverickhistorian6488]

It may have been of use as toilet paper if your supplies had run out. Not really surprising because radiation exposure causes explosive diarrhoea, among other things.

[@crazyleyland5106]

In When the Wind Blows, Jim follows it and the local govern- mental guidelines to the letter.

[@am74343]

"Oh, pip-pip and jolly good! We British people will still keep our collective stiff upper lip, and enjoy our tea and crumpets even in the middle of a nuclear war! Mustn't let those dreadful bombs ruin our kippers or get our knickers all in a twist!"

[@tweetypie1978]

Our? U can't possibly be English if u say pip pip and jolly good, no fucker has said that ever

[@olivere5497]

These days, you'd struggle to find a normal family like these to feature on a news program like this.

[@permiek]

Nuclear winter, every dies

[@trevormillar1576]

London's RSG is at Colney Hatch in Essex; there, Ive named it! Wait, what's that noise? Oh no, it's the Black Helicopters! No! No! Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

[@trevormillar1576]

Actually mosy people would be looting supermarkets. Overturning cars and starting fires.

[@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars]

Frankly, I wouldn't want to survive The initial blast. The effects of residual radiation and fallout, plus the nuclear winter would make surviving unbelievably hard.

[@normlor8109]

many who watched "Threads" were shocked at the devastation but had Britain "Sheffield" in fact prepared properly (in this film) they could have weathered this for Decades. we all know this was an exercise in Politician's stupidity but had all necessities of life been hidden a few Months before an almost certain attack, I believe the outcome would have been very different. yes I know it WAS to scare the HELL out of coming to this sad state but if some of Britain's programming on this subject should be realized ...none of us have one chance!!!

[@Prairielander]

I live in Canada and our people outside of major areas would survive. But all of our major cities are targets. The UK as a whole would face serious damages. But imagine what one nuclear explosion would do to London and the economy. The UK has over a 100 targets. We are lucky though because all of our homes have basements. All is not hopeless though. The effects of radiation and fallout are exaggerated by movies. Most harmful radiation is in the first hours and decreases to safer levels by two weeks to a month after. Fallout shelters with supplies could help you survive.

[@todd3285]

Keep dreaming your little fantasy dream . I'd rather die quickly than a slow death from starvation, radiation poisoning and thirst . See ya wouldn't wanna be ya !!

[@andymerrett]

How do you know that it's exaggerated? Only two (relatively small) bombs have ever been used in war. And never mind just the radiation, what about the fires which will send clouds of dust into the atmosphere and drastically alter sunlight and temperatures. Do you think nuclear winter is exaggerated?

[@chrishenniker5944]

What novels did Angela Lambert write? I know we have a great English tradition of people who started as journalists and then go on to do cool stuff, like Tom Stoppard becoming the greatest playwright of his generation.

[@Thebibs]

THREADS

[@TheGodParticle]

All good clean fun.

[@todd3285]

I hope not !! I'd be outside in my yard on my lawn chair having a beer . See ya wouldn't wanna be ya !!

[@campervan-john]

I never laughed so much 😂😂

[@Speedcubeinfozilelai]

Berlin wall

[@mxferro]

Nuclear war with USSR other then false alarm wouldn't have happened. the USSR was rational and fully understood the massive consequences. China threat for us is far worse and severe. If nuclear war has ever been more likely it is current era against China. China has a completely different rationale. Much To the doom of us all.

[@plumbc007]

well lets hope you are right , as putin does nuke drills as of 20/3/22

[@rapman5363]

Pip Pip Cheerio Bob’s your Uncle

[@robert-hh2ft]

48 % lol

[@Brad-lt6mr]

With clothes and decor like that they deserve to be vaporised!

[@tonymitchell8777]

LoL

[@nofrackingzone2.057]

The BBC advocated peace through submission.

[@niall653]

No the end Bye

[@giogio4833]

Just brushing up....now putins on the move could come in handy.

[@trevormillar1576]

This program was why Thatcher took Thames' licence away and gave it to Carlton.

[@andymerrett]

What, 12 years after it was shown and two years after she ceased to be prime minister? OK then.

[@kerryevans7283]

If the UK government want nuclear weapons, then they should provide for the people. There should be a referendum on the uk continuing to have nukes. The people should decide, not the government.

[@adambradshaw86]

No more referendums, please.