Editing Threads (1984 film) (section)

==Plot==
[[File:Soviet invasion of Iran (Threads).png|thumb|left|Soviet troop movements into Iran as shown in a clipping from ''[[The Observer]]'' early in the film (with [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|occupied Afghanistan]] in red)]]
In the English city of [[Sheffield]], young adults Ruth Beckett and Jimmy Kemp plan to marry after learning of Ruth's unplanned pregnancy. Meanwhile, an international crisis develops after the [[Soviet Union]] invades northern [[Iran]] in response to a [[United States]]-backed coup in the country. The situation rapidly escalates when the [[USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)|USS ''Kitty Hawk'']] sinks and American troops are deployed to unoccupied western Iran to defend its oil supplies. Daily life in Sheffield continues while an American ultimatum demanding joint withdrawal from Iran expires. After a limited nuclear exchange in [[Mashhad]], the crisis culminates in armed conflict breaking out between the two superpowers. News of the breakout spurs British citizens into [[panic buying]] and [[looting]], resulting in the enabling of emergency government powers across the UK for [[Civil defense|civil defence]] purposes. Officials of [[Sheffield City Council]] and many others across the nation take shelter in makeshift basement [[Fallout shelter|bunkers]] to command the area should central government be destroyed, with many being forced to leave their families behind. As Britain prepares for the possibility of [[nuclear war]], society gradually destabilises over the course of two days and violent suppression of [[anti-war protests]] takes place across the country. Ruth's family prepare to use their cellar as a shelter, while Jimmy's family construct a lean-to from mattresses and doors.

Early in the morning, the Soviets launch a nuclear strike in three stages, first disabling communications across Britain and North-West Europe, then attacking [[NATO]] military targets. Finally, the Soviets turn their sights on economic and industrial centres, including Sheffield. Jimmy is working on a construction site with his friend Bob when the [[Civil defense siren#United Kingdom|civil defense sirens]] sound. While Bob takes cover under a car, Jimmy attempts to reach Ruth. He is never seen again. The attack causes mass destruction across Britain, killing and injuring tens of millions of people including Jimmy's brother Michael, who is killed in the initial [[firestorm]]; his mother is horribly burned, while his father suffers from [[radiation poisoning]].

Ruth and her family fare better in their underground shelter, although Ruth's grandmother soon falls ill. As the Sheffield council's efforts to maintain order fail, they slowly suffocate in their bunker, which is buried under the rubble of [[Sheffield Town Hall]]. When her grandmother dies, Ruth flees the shelter, finding that society has collapsed. To avoid the spread of [[Nuclear fallout|fallout]], rescue efforts and attempts to control fires are halted; local authority has broken down, [[martial law]] has been implemented, and survivors are left to fend for themselves. She visits Jimmy's house only to find his mother's corpse. She takes Jimmy's bird-watching book and searches for Jimmy at the local hospital, which is under-equipped and overwhelmed by hundreds of wounded civilians. By the time she returns home, her parents have been killed by looters. With food becoming scarce as a result of looting and fires, Ruth travels west to the countryside near [[Buxton]]. Food soon becomes the only form of currency, awarded for labour and withheld as punishment. The nuclear winter blocks out sunlight, causing a severely diminished harvest and mass starvation.

Ruth is reunited with Bob for a short time as the two reach Buxton, where local authorities unsuccessfully attempt to convince the residents to house refugees. She later gives birth to her daughter alone in an abandoned barn alone, while a chained dog howls at her. One year later, sunlight levels have mostly returned to normal, though damage to the [[ozone layer]] means that higher [[ultraviolet radiation|UV levels]] have increased the risks of suffering [[cataracts]] and [[skin cancer]].

A decade later, Britain's surviving population has dropped to a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] level of 4{{endash}}11 million people, and the country remains devastated. Ruth and her daughter Jane work in the fields with other survivors, cultivating crops by hand. Due to the absence of organised schooling, fetal radiation exposure, and the [[elective mutism]] of many adult survivors, many children born after the war, including Jane, speak [[Broken English|non-standard English]]. Ruth dies in bed, prematurely aged and blinded by cataracts. She is survived by her daughter, Jane, who stands by her bed as she dies. Jane responds with apathy to her mother's death and takes the last of her possessions, leaving behind Jimmy's bird-watching book, which Ruth had still kept with her.

Three years after Ruth's death, industry begins to return, achieved through electricity generated using [[steam power]]. However, the population still lives in squalor. Jane and two boys are caught stealing food. One of the boys is shot dead, while Jane and the other boy engage in a struggle for food that degenerates into sex.<ref name="screenplay">{{cite book|last1=Hines|first1=Barry|editor-last=Mangan|editor-first=Michael|title=Threads and other Sheffield plays|series=Critical Stages|volume=3|date=1990|publisher=[[Sheffield Academic Press]]|location=Sheffield|isbn=9781850751403|issn=0953-0533|pages=158–235|language=en-gb|chapter=Threads}}</ref>{{rp|234}} Jane gives birth months later in a makeshift hospital, where the nurse wraps the silent baby in a bloody sheet and gives it to Jane, who looks at it in horror.