Ludovic Kennedy introduces the fourth of five programmes to mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Tonight: "Threads"
The story of a nuclear attack by Barry Hines.
starring Karen Meagher as Ruth Beckett and Reece Dinsdale as Jimmy Kemp
It's a normal Thursday in Sheffield. Ruth and her boyfriend, Jimmy, are in the pub. The Middle East crisis is just an item on the evening news - 3,000 miles away. This drama, based on available facts, tells the story of a nuclear strike on Britain, seen through the eyes of two Sheffield families - the Kemps and the Becketts - and their designated wartime controller, the city's Peacetime Chief Executive, Clive Sutton.
It traces the events of the four Weeks that lead up to a nuclear war, and the decade that follows. What will life be like for the survivors? In the days months and years to come can the fabric of society hold together: how strong are the threads?
Threads won four BAFTA awards including the Best Single Drama of 1984
"... an impressive achievement on a very large and chilling scale."
(The Guardian)
(Ceefax Subtitles)