Watching ‘Threads’ in the 1980’s

[C0rdelia]

Are there others who watched this at the time?

I was too young to see it at the time as I was only 9 but watched it when it was shown on bbc4 and it scared the life out of me.

Me. Fucking terrified the life out of me.

That's funny, they were showing The Day After on one of the movie channels tonight and it made me think of Threads. I saw Threads when it first came out and it is definitely the most scary. I always wondered what she saw when she looked at her baby's face at the end.

We saw it a while after it came out, it scared me and made me glad to be in New Zealand not Europe.

The Day After was pretty bleak but Threads makes it look like Paw Patrol.

Yes! I've never forgotten it, it scared the life out of me. Just horrible.

Absolutely horrendous. Gave me the shakes and bad dreams for weeks afterwards.

Yes , we were shown it as part of our Modern Studies classes ( does that subject even still exist )

It haunted me for years

It was so bleak

I now wonder was it even appropriate for our age group

It's haunted me too. I can remember being really fearful as a child

What is it? Is it worth a watch?

Yep, watched it in the eighties as a kid and still remember the terror!

I watched it when I was 11 and it had a profound effect on me.

I spent the following year or two being quite anxious about the threat of nuclear annihilation. I read books (with various estimated statistics about death and destruction) to try to regain some feeling of control.

According to the BBFC website it's rated 15.

I was an adult with a four year old child. It scared the life out of me and I decided if the four minute warning went off (it seemed an actual possibility at the time) I would take her and lie in the middle of the road together to get the full impact. I didn't want to survive it. I have talked about this with my daughter and the older grandchildren, it affected me deeply.

What is it? Is it worth a watch?
It's a fairly low budget story of the aftermath of a nuclear bomb on Sheffield.

I use very small bits of it in my history lessons (normally the first bit where all the communications go and they realise that they’re knackered). You can buy it on dvd but it’s a 15 rating.

it’s £7.99

My gcse English coursework was on pros and cons of nuclear weapons. Our teacher showed us a bit of this (late 80's) and it was bloody terrifying.

Thank you @CaptainMyCaptain

I'm not sure if I will watch it. Things like that play on my mind something terrible.

The bit in 28 days later where London is eerily quiet. The posters everywhere. I still can't get that out of my head. I think it's the type of thing to give me nightMares.

Maybe I will give it a go. I'm not sure yet.

I think since having kids things terrify me much more than they did before.

Just checked the date when it was originally aired and I was 10. My DPs were pretty strict with age ratings so I've no idea why they let me watch it. I think Threads is the single scariest thing I have ever watched and don't think I would ever watch it again.

I remember it being on telly, didn't watch at the time but remember my family discussing how terrifying it was. Saw it myself a couple of years later at school. Seems lots of 80s teachers wanted to scare their students!

We watched at school in an English lesson, I would have been 12/13 at the time. It terrified me and I had nightmares about nuclear war for ages afterwards. Have not seen it since so not sure if I would find it as horrifying now? Although I do worry a lot more generally since having my son so it probably would.

I was 15 when it came out. The front of the Radio Times with the guard's head wrapped in bandages was quite terrifying enough. My mother would never have ket me watch it but I had no desire to. I was afraid of nuclear attack/accident every single day from the age of 11 and I don't think it was a healthy thing. I am very sceptical of an educational environment where a scary issue is constantly put in children's minds tbh.

Seems lots of 80s teachers wanted to scare their students!
In the early 80s the nuclear threat was all too real. I don't think it would have the same impact now.

At that time we had government leaflets 'Protect and Survive' telling us to make nuclear shelters under a kitchen table or in a cellar. The film showing the realities of the aftermath put the lie to all that.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_and_Survive