Threads - BBC4 - 9 October 10.15pm

[AlecTrevelyan006]

Probably the most harrowing television show ever made, Threads follows the build up to and aftermath of a nuclear attack on Great Britain.

It is being broadcast for only the fourth time, and the first time since 2003.

If, like me, you watched it first time around you will never have forgotten it. If you’ve never seen it before, it is a must-watch - but prepare to be traumatised.

@Fooshufflewickjbannanapants you're not the person with the wee are you?

I was wanting to ask that but refrained 🤣

I watched it at school in English class, it really messed me up & I was convinced that was how I would die. Can't believe they showed it to us at such a vulnerable age, will never forget it. Must have been around 1985ish, lots going on in the news about the cold war at the time & I vaguely remember some pamphlet about propping up mattresses & hiding under tables

I have not seen it but always wanted to do thanks! Will be tuning in

Thanks for the info. I am not sure if I can actually watch it, but the option is there. Have read lots about it.

Oooh! In a crowd scene? There was a radio prog on it the other weekend

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00236xg?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Meanwhile does anyone else get loads of Fallout merch and fan made kitsch on their social media feed? It's like quite a lot of people have learnt to think of nuclear war as a survivable thing when it isn't. They can fight mutants and gain rad points

We got shown When The Wind Blows and I was the only child who knew who David Bowie was

I saw it on the telly when it first aired and, from the moment the bombs drop, it was unrelentingly bleak. As you'd expect, really. Saw it again recently and it still packs the same punch.

Remember reading somewhere that the evening Threads was first aired became known as 'The night Britain didn't sleep'.

I certainly didn't sleep. My partner had a cough and in my half awake state I thought he had radiation sickness.

@Handyweatherstation - I saw it when it was first aired and was on my own in a student house. There were no mobile phones then so I ran down to the end of the road to a phone box to phone my mother to hear a friendly voice. It scared the bejesus out of me. I am not sure I slept well.

Same. Also read Z for Zachariah in English. And watched where the wind blows. Just to really make the point Who the fuck thought scaring the living daylights out of the population including children was a good idea.

I have wanted to see this.

If you like this sort of thing I highly recommend the book "On The Beach" by Neville Shute. Don't be fooled by the title, it isn't about a lovely holiday on the Costa del Sol.

It's a bit old now but hasn't aged badly.

I remember watching that!

"There's a film on TV made by the guy who did The Snowman, that'll be nice"

Yeah thanks Dad!!! Not a soothing bed time watch!

God no, it's an agonising watch.

Same !
Watched Threads in modern studies class and read Z for Zachariah in English.
Both so bleak !
Dont think they would be allowed to show kids this stuff nowadays.
I actually rewatched Threads on you tube a few years ago and it was still as bleak and brutal as I remembered from school.

I lived in Sheffield with two small children at the time, close to where parts of it were filmed. There’s one scene in it that froze my blood. I will watch it when it comes on this time, but I suspect that I’m a little thicker-skinned than I was then.

They made us watch this at school in the 90s, absolutely horrific, it affected me for a very long time (years). I won't watch it again.

Living in Sheffield made it very real for me, seeing the mushroom cloud over the town hall felt terrifying.

I can’t decide whether to watch it or not. I was so disturbed by it as a teenager, but on the other hand it’s kind of ‘must see’ television. Almost like I have a responsibility to watch it?

@Lalgarh I heard that programme, very interesting.

The thing with Threads is that it doesn't have the 'shock and awe' of modern films. It starts off as a fairly ordinary kitchen sink drama but the utter, grinding hopelessness of the aftermath really gets to you. There are no heroics, no love, no laughter, there isn't even any rousing music, just endless cold, grey bleakness and The End.

I had nightmares for years after seeing it. I've watched bits on YouTube over the years, I think I may have become a bit desensitised to it now.

Same here
It gave me nightmares for years.

@Handyweatherstation You're definitely right about the bleakness.

I initially thought that it hadn't had much of an effect on me after watching it, but last night (over a week later) I kept thinking about the looters at the house, and how that would play out in real life.

I think it was a combination of the current real life news, coupled with the fact that I'm heavily pregnant and have a young child with special needs, my anxiety was definitely piqued.

This is it, it was so ordinary.

In the radio programme linked to above, Reese Dinsdale said his character (one of the main ones) just…..wasn’t in the programme again after a certain point. No goodbyes, no finding a body, no ‘wrapping up storylines’, no terrible death, no radiation burns, no struggling, just….nothing. And that’s how it would be in real life. No resolution, just nothing.

@MeAgainAndAgain yeah, there are a couple of other characters that just disappear. I can think of Jimmy's sister and the friend of his that Ruth travels with for a while. Pretty stark.