Threads (1984) (TV)

Director:

Mick Jackson

Writer:

Barry Hines

Release Date:

23 September 1984 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | War

Tagline:

The end of the world as we know it.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear | Nuclear War | Nuclear Holocaust | Birth | No Survivors

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)
Ingrid P. Frehley	...	Woman with Dead Baby (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

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

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pennie Bloomfield	....	third assistant director

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
Graham Brown	....	visual effects assistant
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
John Coggle	....	programme advisor (as Dr. John Coggle)
George Crossley	....	scientific advisor
John Dawson	....	programme advisor (as Dr. John Dawson)
Elizabeth Downie	....	production assistant
John Erikson	....	scientific advisor
Peter Goodwin	....	scientific advisor
David Holloway	....	programme advisor (as Dr. David Holloway)
Arthur Katz	....	programme advisor (as Dr. Arthur Katz)
Robert Jay Lifton	....	scientific advisor (as Robert J. Lifton)
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

• 2 Entertain (2005) (UK) (DVD) (re-issue)
• BBC Video (1987) (UK) (video)
• BBC Video (2005) (UK) (DVD) (re-issue)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1984) (UK) (TV) (original broadcast)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2003) (UK) (TV)
• CKVU-TV (1985) (Canada) (TV)
• Distribuidora Internacional de Filmes (DIF) (Brazil) (VHS)
• EMGEE Home Video (1987) (Greece) (VHS)
• Global Television Network (1985) (Canada) (TV) (CKND-TV) (Winnipeg)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1985) (USA) (TV) (select stations)
• Revelation Films (2000) (UK) (DVD)
• Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) (1980's) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Brazil:110 min

Country:

UK | Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Dolby Digital (DVD Release)

Certification:

UK:15 | Australia:M (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Buxton, Derbyshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The film was part of a 1980s cycle of films about atomic bombs and nuclear warfare which had started in 1979 with The China Syndrome (1979). The films included Silkwood (1983), Testament (1983), Threads (1984) (TV), WarGames (1983), The Day After (1983) (TV), The Atomic Cafe (1982), The Manhattan Project (1986), "Whoops Apocalypse" (1982), Special Bulletin (1983) (TV), Ground Zero (1987), Barefoot Gen (Barefoot Gen (1983)), "Rules of Engagement" (1989), When the Wind Blows (1986), Letters from a Dead Man (Pisma myortvogo cheloveka (1986)), Memoirs of a Survivor (1981) and The Chain Reaction (1980).

Goofs:

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

Quotes:

Narrator:In an urban society, everything connects. Each person's needs are fed by the skills of many others. Our lives are woven together in a fabric. But the connections that make society strong also make it vulnerable.

Movie Connections:

Features Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Soundtrack:

Johnny B. Goode

Genuinely horrifying

I've always said that no film can really scare you as an adult as films scared you when you were a kid. My benchmark for that being watching 'The Omen' on video when i was about 13, nothing has ever quite lived up to it in the effect it had on me.

Rewatching 'Threads' a while back makes me change my mind.

I remember first seeing it in Ireland on the BBC when I guess i was about 14. Even in Ireland, a neutral country, anxiety about nuclear war was a big thing when we were kids in the 80's.

'Threads' does really get to you, its very unsettling and disturbing. Unlike fictional horror films, 'Threads' is hugely different in one respect - it's real. This is what would happen, you can't distance yourself by saying it's make believe. There are still thousands of nuclear weapons armed and primed to be launched within minutes, 24 hours a day, everyday. Now we even have a country, the US, that says it's ready to use them, even if no one else does first.

Rewatching it, the dated production values don't detract from the film's power. It seems to bring the film even closer to the ordinary and the everyday. It's the film's ordinariness that makes it so viscerally disturbing - Hollywood special effects would at least have allowed you to distance yourself from it somewhat. In fact the film is more realistic for not having them. Someone else mentioned the scene of the woman in the shopping centre urinating where she stood out of pure terror as she sees the bomb go off a mile or two away from her - thats the scene that stayed with me the most too.

Its depressing to think in 2004 we are living in a world where politicians are again talking about 'winnable' wars using nuclear weapons. In many things in life you get a second chance if you make mistakes, I don't think nuclear weapons use will give us the luxury of finding out afterwards was it all worth it. Watch "Threads' and see if you think 'winnable' nuclear war is something you want to give yourself or your children.