Review of Threads (1984) by Rowan M — 23 Jul 2015

Not technically a film, but in many ways, not technically a TV show either. Along the lines of Survivors, which dealt with a virus nearly exterminating humanity, Threads attempts to address the entirely possible but seldom discussed issue of a nuclear attack and subsequent fallout.

With clever integration of stock footage, but questionable inclusion of photographs, the show chronicles the build up to the attack, the attack itself, and then the following 13 years as the people of Britain attempt to adjust to their post-apocalyptic lives.

You really don't get to know many of the characters very well, mainly because there's quite a few of them, but I think that may have been the point. In times of great panic and hysteria, every individual just becomes another face in the crowd.

The images of the bodies among the ruins are haunting, and the performances of the actors, particularly while struggling within their decimated homes or scavenging whatever food they can get their hands on, are so raw that it never really feels like acting.

It does go on a big long, and the time shifts towards the end become increasingly jarring and erratic. The programme works on an almost subconscious level, since a nuclear attack could potentially happen at any time, but nearly everyone is reluctant to even acknowledge the possibility.

The fear simply lurks at the back of the mind. The show illustrates the horrors we would rather never consider, and makes its audience think long and hard about how we would all cope in a fallout, not as individuals, but as a nation.