The Red Thread

Threads is a 1984 apocalyptic anti-war drama television film directed and produced by Mick Jackson and written by Barry Hines. A dramatic account of the potential medical, economic, social, and environmental consequences of a nuclear war in Britain, it follows two families in Sheffield as a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union erupts into war and a general nuclear exchange between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. An international co-production between the BBC, Nine Network, and Western-World Television Inc., the film was shot on a budget of £400,000 (equivalent to £1.34 million in 2024). It was the first of its kind to depict a nuclear winter and has been cited as the 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". It has been compared to The War Game (1966) and The Day After (1983). It was nominated for seven BAFTA Awards in 1985 and won for Best Single Drama, Best Design, Best Film Cameraman, and Best Film Editor.