Threads: The BBC drama which affected a generation of viewers

In the week since its launch, Facebook owner Meta has signed up more than 100 million users to new social media app Threads. However, the name of the service conjures up a rather different meaning to viewers who caught a seminal BBC drama aired almost 40 years ago.

As families settled down in front of the TV on a Sunday evening in September 1984, little did they suspect the impact of the horror to come.

At 9:30 the BBC aired the 112-minute film Threads.

With only four channels to choose from, the harrowing post-apocalyptic Cold War drama found its way into millions of homes – and led to sleepless nights for many who saw the Sheffield-based dystopian drama unfold.

Written by Kes author Barry Hines, the film showed the unrelenting impact of a thermonuclear blast on ordinary Britons – in graphic detail.

Produced on a low budget and directed by documentary maker Mick Jackson, who would later go on to helm Hollywood blockbuster The Bodyguard, it managed to horrify people at a time when nuclear war seemed a very real possibility.

From a kitchen sink drama focused around a young couple in a South Yorkshire, then riven by the Miners’ Strike, Threads shows society breaking down as nuclear winter sets in.

“It never loses its power, ever. I have never seen anything so horrible and bleak in my life,” said Stephen Brotherstone.

He and David Lawrence are the authors of Scarred for Life – a series of books looking at the impact of 70s and 80s pop culture.

Both vividly remember the film, with Brotherstone admitting he only managed to watch the first half when it was broadcast as it “wrecked” his head.

However, he finally saw the full movie when it was repeated – and it has stayed with him ever since.

“I can still remember lying in bed in my bedroom and you can kind of see the next street on from my mum and dad’s and it was almost like an overlaid image of blasted houses and rubble, because it affected me that much.”

Reece Dinsdale, who played central character Jimmy in the film, said it had “looked really special” when he read the script, largely because he admired the work of writer Hines.

However, the Normanton-born actor, who was shortly to star in sitcom Home to Roost with John Thaw, had no idea of the drama’s impact.

“We said ‘wow if we can pull this off it’ll be great,’ but I didn’t have a clue that it held that much of a punch.”

The film was shot on location in Sheffield and, after it was completed, 500 guests were attended a special screening in the city.

“There was complete silence and all you could hear was various people sobbing around the room,” the actor recalled.

“People blame me to this day for scarring them for life.

“People say it is the most scary thing they’ve ever seen in their life and remains so to this day.”

Threads was made and shown in an era of heightened tension between the West and the then USSR.

Lawrence and Brotherstone are currently working on a third volume of their series, which looks at the Cold War and includes a chapter on Threads.

“I think ’83, ’84 was the peak of Cold War paranoia in the 80s,” said Lawrence.

“You’ve got nuclear war mentioned in a million pop songs, you’ve got it on TV, in your comics, and then Threads comes on and there’s every nightmare you’ve ever had on screen.”

Brotherstone remembers feeling convinced he would not live to see 1990.

“It wasn’t a question of if they pressed the button, but when are they going to press the button,” he said.

Jimmy, played by Dinsdale, and Ruth, played by Karen Meagher, have just learnt that Ruth is expecting a baby as the film opens.

The growing tensions between East and West appear on TV and newspapers as Sheffield’s residents go about their daily lives, ignoring the looming threat.

“There’s the build-up to war, but you don’t see it you, just hear about it in the background as they are discussing what to have for tea,” Lawrence said.

“They are so wrapped up in their own lives, that is very powerful I think.”

For Dinsdale, it was a “fantastic” piece of writing by Hines.

“They are everyman and everywoman, they are just normal people with normal lives, there’s nothing special about them and this very special event happens to them and it just draws you in.”

Brotherstone said director Jackson had initially thought of using the cast of Coronation Street.

“Until it was pointed out to him that it would be massively distracting to watch Deirdre Barlow get blown up,” he said.

“It is very 70s, 80s Play for Today, but I think it works in its favour because it was so British.

“That was a house that looked like mine, there’s Woolworths getting vaporised, it really struck home.”

The final parts of the film follow the characters as they struggle through the nuclear winter in the aftermath of the blasts.

“It is watching everyone die and it is watching society collapse forever.

“It makes the point we are never coming back as a society, language is gone, skills are gone, we are just in rags grunting at each other,” Brotherstone said.

For the actors and crew it was “a ball” to make, according to Dinsdale.

“We had the biggest laugh I remember, it was one of the happiest crews ever.”

To him though, Threads remains a “seminal” piece of television which still resonates with audiences.

“It was one of the most outstanding pieces of work the BBC has ever created,” he said.

“It is so grim and gruesome and so truthful and real and so horrific.

“I am very proud of it.”

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