Threads (1984 film)

Threads
British DVD cover
Genre	Science fiction Drama War
Written by	Barry Hines
Directed by	Mick Jackson
Starring	Karen Meagher Reece Dinsdale
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Graham Massey John Purdie
Producers	Mick Jackson Peter Wolfes
Cinematography	Andrew Dunn Paul Morris
Editors	Jim Latham Donna Bickerstaff
Running time	112 minutes
Production companies	British Broadcasting Corporation Nine Network Australia Western-World Television Inc
Budget	£400,000[1]
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	23 September 1984 (1984-09-23)
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Threads is a 1984 British apocalyptic war drama television film jointly produced by the BBC, Nine Network and Western-World Television Inc. Written by Barry Hines and directed and produced by Mick Jackson, it is a dramatic account of nuclear war and its effects in Britain, specifically on the city of Sheffield in Northern England. The plot centres on two families as a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union erupts. As the nuclear exchange between NATO and the Warsaw Pact begins, the film depicts the medical, economic, social, and environmental consequences of nuclear war.^[2]

Shot on a budget of £400,000 (equivalent to £1,290,611 in 2023), the film was the first of its kind to depict a nuclear winter. It has been called "a film which comes closest to representing the full horror of nuclear war and its aftermath, as well as the catastrophic impact that the event would have on human culture."^[3] It has been compared to the earlier Academy Award-winning programme The War Game (1966) produced in the United Kingdom two decades prior and its contemporary counterpart The Day After, a 1983 ABC television film depicting a similar scenario in the United States. It was nominated for seven BAFTA awards in 1985 and won for Best Single Drama, Best Design, Best Film Cameraman, and Best Film Editor.