Threads (1984 film)

Threads
British DVD cover
Genre
Written byBarry Hines
Directed byMick Jackson
Starring
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producersGraham Massey
John Purdie
Producers
Cinematography
Editors
  • Jim Latham
  • Donna Bickerstaff
Running time112 minutes
Production companies
Budget£400,000
Original release
NetworkBBC
Release23 September 1984 (1984-09-23)

Threads is a 1984 British-Australian apocalyptic 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 £1,290,611 in 2023). 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.