Ahead of a timely re-airing of Mick Jackson’s famously bleak docudrama, its director recalls why he unleashed a mushroom cloud on Sheffield in 1984

Boomer and Michael watch the 1984 British family romcom, Threads! When Jimmy met Ruth, they were two kids from different worlds. Now they're about to become parents! With wedding bells in the distance, Jimmy only has one more night as a bachelor to live it up! At least not if his new father in law has anything to say about it!  Our review is based on Svervin Films' 2018 2K remaster of Threads from the movie's original intermediate print. The blu-ray mentioned includes a 30 minute long interview with Stephen Thrower about the historical context that Threads released to in 1984. Bibliography - Archer, Josh. “10 Reasons Why Margaret Thatcher Is Britain’s Most Hated Politician.” Josh Archer, 18 Mar. 2018, https://www.josharcher.uk/blog/why-margaret-thatcher-is-hated/. - Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), 1983. Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs., 1 May 2008, https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/rd/104253.htm. - Hooper, Simon. “Many Faces of the Iron Lady.” Al Jazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2013/4/9/margaret-thatcher-the-good-bad-and-the-ugly. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025. - “Margaret Thatcher and the Battle of the 364 Keynesians.” Cato Institute, 9 Apr. 2013, https://www.cato.org/blog/margaret-thatcher-battle-364-keynesians. - Myre, Greg. “Stanislav Petrov, ‘The Man Who Saved The World,’ Dies At 77.” NPR, 18 Sept. 2017. NPR, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/18/551792129/stanislav-petrov-the-man-who-saved-the-world-dies-at-77. - NBC. “‘Defense against the Unknown’: UK Releases 1983 Nuclear War Speech for Queen.” NBC News, 1 Aug. 2013, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/defense-against-unknown-uk-releases-1983-nuclear-war-speech-queen-flna6C10813711. - “Protesting Margaret Thatcher.” London Museum, https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/protesting-margaret-thatcher/. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025. - “Reagan, ‘Evil Empire,’ Speech Text.” Voices of Democracy, https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/reagan-evil-empire-speech-text/. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025. - Skidelsky, Robert. “Margaret Thatcher – a Strong Leader, but a Resolute Failure by Any Other Measure.” The Guardian, 18 Apr. 2013. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2013/apr/18/margaret-thatcher-leader-failure-strong. - Uenuma, Francine. “The 1983 Military Drill That Nearly Sparked Nuclear War With the Soviets.” Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1983-military-drill-that-nearly-sparked-nuclear-war-with-the-soviets-180979980/. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025. - Webb, Alban. “The War Game.” BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/author. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025. - Williams, Zoe. “Margaret Thatcher Is Not a Good Role Model – but Not Necessarily for the Reasons You Think.” The Guardian, 4 Dec. 2023. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/04/margaret-thatcher-is-not-a-good-role-model-but-not-necessarily-for-the-reasons-you-think.

The CEO of Translink, the public transport provider in the North, claimed that ‘we should not be jumping to conclusions about what the intention was’.

The next of my posts about movies which I studied for my article “Disaster Narratives by Design: Is Japan Different?” is about Volcano (Mick Jackson, 1997), which came out in the same y…