Threads (1984) (TV)

Director:

Mick Jackson

Writer:

Barry Hines (writer)

Release Date:

23 September 1984 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | War

Plot:

Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run affects of nuclear war on civilization.

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear | Nuclear Holocaust | Nuclear War | Birth | Expectant Father

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Karen Meagher	...	Ruth Beckett
Reece Dinsdale	...	Jimmy Kemp
David Brierly	...	Mr. Kemp (as David Brierley)
Rita May	...	Mrs. Kemp
Nicholas Lane	...	Michael Kemp
Jane Hazlegrove	...	Alison Kemp
Henry Moxon	...	Mr. Beckett
June Broughton	...	Mrs. Beckett
Sylvia Stoker	...	Granny Beckett
Harry Beety	...	Clive Sutton
Ruth Holden	...	Marjorie Sutton
Ashley Barker	...	Bob
Michael O'Hagan	...	Chief Supt. Hirst
Phil Rose	...	Medical Officer
Steve Halliwell	...	Information Officer
Brian Grellis	...	Accommodation Officer
Peter Faulkner	...	Transport Officer
Anthony Collin	...	Food Officer
Michael Ely	...	Scientific Advisor
Sharon Baylis	...	Manpower Officer
David Stutt	...	Works Oficer
Phil Askham	...	Mr. Stothard
Anna Seymour	...	Mrs. Stothard
Fiona Rook	...	Carol Stothard
Christine Buckley	...	Woman in Supermarket
Joe Belcher	...	Shopkeeper
David Major	...	Boy in Supermarket
Maggie Ford	...	Peace Speaker
Mike Kay	...	Trade Unionist
Richard Albrecht	...	Officer at Food Depot
Ted Beyer	...	Policeman
Dean Williamson	...	Policeman
Joe Holmes	...	Mr. Langley
Andy Fenn-Rodgers	...	Patrol Officer
Graham Hill	...	Soldier
Nigel Collins	...	Soldier
Jerry Read	...	Looter (as Jerry Ready)
Dennis Conlon	...	Looter
Greta Dunn	...	Woman at Hospital
Nat Jackley	...	Old Man in Graveyard
John Livesey	...	Street Trader
Victoria O'Keefe	...	Jane
Lee Daley	...	Spike
Marcus Lund	...	Gaz
Lesley Judd	...	Newscaster
Colin Ward-Lewis	...	Newscaster
Paul Vaughan	...	Narrator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Patrick Allen	...	Public Information Film Announcer (uncredited)
Ed Bishop	...	US President (voice) (uncredited)
Lee Cambell	...	Dead Boy Under Gate (uncredited)
Anne Sellors	...	Woman who urinates herself (uncredited)
Michael Shale	...	Man who has leg amputated (uncredited)

Directed by
Mick Jackson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Barry Hines		writer

Produced by
Mick Jackson	....	producer
Graham Massey	....	executive producer
John Purdie	....	executive producer
Peter Wolfes	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Andrew Dunn
Paul Morris

Film Editing by
Donna Bickerstaff
Jim Latham

Production Design by
Christopher Robilliard

Costume Design by
Sally Nieper

Makeup Department
Carol Gibbs	....	makeup assistant
Derek Lloyd	....	makeup assistant
Jan Nethercot	....	makeup designer
John Humphreys	....	burn effects (uncredited)

Production Management
Matthew Kuipers	....	production manager
Jacinta Peel	....	production manager

Art Department
Andy Coward	....	graphic designer
Dorothy Elliott	....	prop buyer

Sound Department
John Hale	....	dubbing mixer
Graham Ross	....	sound recordist
Simon Muir	....	assistant dubbing mixer (uncredited)
Martin Simpson	....	assistant dubbing mixer (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Peter Wragg	....	visual effects

Stunts
Dorothy Ford	....	stunts

Other crew
Eric Alley	....	programme advisor
Pennie Bloomfield	....	assistant floor manager
Duncan Campbell	....	programme advisor
Eric Chivian	....	scientific advisor
Dr. John Coggle	....	programme advisor
George Crossley	....	scientific advisor
Dr. John Dawson	....	programme advisor
Elizabeth Downie	....	production assistant
John Erikson	....	scientific advisor
Peter Goodwin	....	scientific advisor
Dr. David Holloway	....	programme advisor
Dr. Arthur Katz	....	programme advisor
Robert J. Lifton	....	scientific advisor
Alan Longman	....	scientific advisor
Michael McElroy	....	scientific advisor
Simon Moorhead	....	assistant floor manager
Norman Myers	....	scientific advisor
Wendy Plowright	....	production assistant
George Rathjens	....	scientific advisor
Joseph Rotblat	....	programme advisor (as Prof. Joseph Rotblat)
Carl Sagan	....	scientific advisor
Philip Steadman	....	scientific advisor
Richard Turco	....	scientific advisor
George Woodwell	....	scientific advisor

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Nine Network Australia
• Western-World Television Inc.

Distributors

• Distribuidora Internacional de Filmes (DIF) (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

Brazil:110 min

Country:

UK | Australia | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (video rating) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Buxton, Derbyshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

While shooting the movie, the BBC got in trouble with local police when they detonated a large smoke bomb in order to simulate a nuclear explosion. Members of the public, who were not aware that a movie was being shot, panicked and thought that a real explosion had occurred.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The "body" of Granny Beckett is still moving and breathing after the Becketts take her outside the shelter.

Quotes:

[as a mushroom cloud rises in the distance]
Bob: Jesus Christ! They've done it... They've done it!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Screenwipe: (#2.3)" (2006)

Saw it again recently and it STILL packs a killer punch.

I was about eleven or twelve when this harrowing made-for-TV docu-drama was repeated by the BBC, back to back with 'The War Game'. 'The War Game' didn't faze me much, for various reasons, but 'Threads' - that grabbed me instantly and wouldn't let go. It was not only horribly real, seeing a lower-middle class family rather like my own suddenly plunged back into the dark ages by a nuclear holocaust, it was also entirely believable (the cold war was still very much an ongoing concern back in the eighties) and shockingly compelling. I wanted to look away, but couldn't. I wanted to run from the room in fright, but couldn't. For better or worse, this film showed in full, unflinching, uncompromising detail exactly what it would be like if your home town got nuked, and gave us graphic realism in spades. Melting milk-bottles, spontaneous urination, houses reduced to rubble in seconds, burning cats, dead kids, gore, vomit, armed traffic wardens shooting looters, filth, decay, disease...it's certainly not a barrel of laughs, but Mick Jackson's aim was to shut up all the ignorant gung-hos who believed a nuclear war could be "won". He succeeded, unequivocally. The scene that made the deepest impact on me was the ravaged makeshift classroom with a ragged bunch of shell-shocked adults dazedly watching an ancient videotape of a schools programme (Words and Pictures, in fact) in an attempt to regain their numeracy and literacy skills. That was a show we used to watch at school. Work it out for yourself. In short, this is a downbeat, depressing, bleak and utterly horrible film, but I recommend it wholeheartedly to everyone. The cold war may be gone, but the threats portrayed are still very real.