The Day Britain Stopped (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Gabriel Range

Writers:

Simon Finch (writer)
Gabriel Range (writer)

Release Date:

13 May 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

One day in the near future, a rail strike, traffic congestion and a mid-air plane collision bring the UK's transport system to a halt.

Plot Keywords:

Mockumentary

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Narrator (voice)
Eric Carte	...	Tom Walker, MP (Transport Minister)
Andrew Shield	...	Inspector Clive Turner (Surrey Police Roads Division) (as Andy Shield)
Stephen North	...	Julian Galt (as Steve North)
Angelo Andreou	...	Tomas Galt (air crash victim)
Emma Pinto	...	Ana Galt (air crash victim)
Olivia MacDonald	...	Marina Galt (air crash victim)
Prue Clarke	...	Pauline Watkins (mother of car-crash victim)
Jonathan Linsley	...	PC Tony Foster (Surrey Police Roads Division)
Anna Rajan	...	Herself (Radio 5 Traffic Reporter)
Tony Longhurst	...	Steve Thomas (Tanker Driver)
David Holt	...	Dominic Steel (Safety Compliance Manager, Heathrow)
Joanna Griffiths	...	Nicola Evans (Approach Controller, West Drayton Air Traffic Control)
Alison Skot	...	Air Traffic Controller
Daniel Copeland	...	Matt Ogden (Supervisor, Heathrow Control Tower)

Runtime:

UK:90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Complex subject, caught between drama and journalism

This film is a "realistic" dramatisation of a future documentary about a major day of transportation disasters in Britain. It is based to some extent on fact: massive overcrowding on roads, train strikes on the grounds of "safety" causing danger to the traveling public and a creaky air traffic control infrastructure. Some elements of the scenario have actually "more or less" happened, such as the roads grinding to a halt as a result of strikes, weather and accidents coinciding.

The piece is gripping from start to finish, in the compulsive way watching 24 hour news during a war is gripping. Morbid fascination takes over.

However, the subject matter is hugely complex. Assessing transportation risk and therefore deciding what to do about it, which path of action is the lesser of evils, is beyond the scope of a journalistic drama such as this. You are left worrying that it could all go horribly wrong, yet the more obvious steps the government might take could well be counter-productive.

Conclusions such as "it's the fault of the system, not the individuals within the system" are valid up to a point but unhelpful.

People interested in this subject might gain more from reading books such as Risk by John Adams or the superb paper on how unintended consequences of risk management led to the Valuejet Air Disaster (I don't have the reference to hand but I have the paper somewhere).

Gripping stuff, nonetheless.