Editing Threads (1984 film) (section)

==Production and themes==
{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|quoted=1|Our intention in making ''Threads'' was to step aside from the politics and – I hope convincingly – show the actual effects on either side should our best endeavours to prevent nuclear war fail.|Screenwriter Barry Hines<ref name="offthetelly">{{cite news| url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/oldott/www.offthetelly.co.uk/index126a.html?page_id=1835| title=Let's All Hide in the Linen Cupboard| work=Off The Telly| date=September 2001| last=Kibble-White| first=Jack| access-date=16 October 2013| archive-date=16 October 2013| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131016093924/http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/oldott/www.offthetelly.co.uk/index126a.html?page_id=1835| url-status=live}}</ref>}} 
''Threads'' was first commissioned (under the working title ''Beyond Armageddon'') by the [[Director-General of the BBC]] [[Alasdair Milne]], after he watched the 1966 drama-documentary ''[[The War Game]]'', which had not been shown on the BBC when it was made, due to pressure from the [[Labour government, 1964–1970|Wilson government]], although it had a limited release in cinemas.<ref name="scope">{{cite journal |last=Binnion |first=Paul |date=May 2003 |title= Threads |url=http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2003/may-2003/film-rev-may-2003.pdf |journal=Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Television Studies |publisher=[[University of Nottingham]] |issn= 1465-9166 |access-date=4 February 2016 |archive-date=23 February 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160223045214/http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2003/may-2003/film-rev-may-2003.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Mick Jackson was hired to direct the film, as he had previously worked in the area of nuclear apocalypse in 1982, producing the BBC ''[[Q.E.D. (BBC TV series)|Q.E.D.]]'' documentary ''A Guide to Armageddon''.<ref>{{IMDb title|85630|Q.E.D.: A Guide to Armageddon (TV Episode 1982)}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|SP-eWUegpm0|QED: A Guide to Armageddon. Nuclear war facts from the 1980s}}</ref> This was considered a breakthrough at the time, considering the previous banning of ''The War Game'', which BBC staff believed would have resulted in mass suicides if aired.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} Jackson subsequently travelled around the UK and the US, consulting leading scientists, psychologists, doctors, defence specialists and strategic experts to create the most realistic depiction of nuclear war possible for his next film.<ref name="scotsman">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=End of the world revisited: BBC's Threads is 25 years old |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/end-of-the-world-revisited-bbc-s-threads-is-25-years-old-1-773083 |newspaper=[[The Scotsman]] |date=5 September 2009 |access-date=5 January 2014 |archive-date=14 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131014112811/http://www.scotsman.com/news/end-of-the-world-revisited-bbc-s-threads-is-25-years-old-1-773083 |url-status=live }}</ref> Jackson consulted various sources in his research, including the 1983 ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' article ''Nuclear Winter: Global Consequences of Multiple Nuclear Explosions'', penned by [[Carl Sagan]] and [[James B. Pollack]]. Details of a possible attack scenario and the extent of the damage were derived from ''Doomsday, Britain after Nuclear Attack'' (1983), while the ineffective post-war plans of the UK government came from [[Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1952)|Duncan Campbell]]'s 1982 exposé ''War Plan UK''.<ref name="kevinhall">{{cite web |url= http://b.grapplex.me/threads-references/|title=''Threads'' – Select References and Bibliography |last =Hall| first= Kevin| date=21 January 2013|website=Fallout Warning|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-date=14 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002543/http://b.grapplex.me/threads-references/| url-status=dead}}</ref> In portraying the psychological damage suffered by survivors, Jackson took inspiration from the behaviour of the [[Hibakusha]]<ref name="scope"/> and Magnus Clarke's 1982 book ''Nuclear Destruction of Britain''.<ref name="kevinhall"/> Sheffield was chosen as the main location partly because of its "nuclear-free zone" policy that made the council sympathetic to the local filming<ref name="offthetelly"/> and partly because it seemed likely that the USSR would strike an industrial city in the centre of the country.<ref>{{cite AV media| first= Mike |last= Jackson| title= Commentary |work= Threads (Special Edition)| year= 2018 | edition=  |publisher= }}</ref>

Jackson hired Barry Hines to write the script because of his political awareness. The relationship between the two was strained on several occasions, as Hines spent much of his time on set, and apparently disliked Jackson on account of his middle class upbringing.<ref name="scotsman"/> They also disagreed about [[Paul Vaughan]]'s narration, which Hines felt was detrimental to the drama.<ref name="newstatesman2018">{{Cite web |url= https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2018/03/here-come-bombs-making-threads-nuclear-war-film-shocked-generation|title=Here come the bombs: the making of Threads, the nuclear war film that shocked a generation |last=Rogers|first=Jude|author-link=Jude Rogers|date=17 March 2018|website= [[New Statesman]]|access-date=28 April 2019|archive-date=12 October 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191012025730/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2018/03/here-come-bombs-making-threads-nuclear-war-film-shocked-generation|url-status=live}}</ref> As part of their research, the two spent a week at the Home Office training centre for "official survivors" in [[Easingwold]]<ref name=coldwarorgukthreads>{{cite web |last1=Young |first1=Taras |title=Threads – the film 35 years on |url=https://coldwar.org.uk/threads-35-years-on/ |website=Nuclear War in the UK |access-date=30 April 2025 |date=23 September 2019}}</ref> which, according to Hines, showed just "how disorganised [post-war reconstruction] would be".<ref name=actingarma>{{cite magazine |last1=Crace |first1=Jim |author1-link=Jim Crace |title=Acting Armageddon |url=https://coldwar.org.uk/acting-armageddon/ |magazine=[[Radio Times]]|via=coldwar.org.uk |access-date=12 April 2025 |date=22 September 1984}}</ref> A subsequent request by Jackson for the Home Office to provide him with a copy of the training notes was approved on the basis that refusal "could cause offence and give the impression that [the Home Office] had something to hide", with a similar logic underpinning the decision to give him the full and unredacted notes.<ref name=coldwarorgukthreads />

Auditions were advertised in ''[[Sheffield Star|The Star]]'',<ref name="localhistory">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2005/04/22/threads_interviews_feature.shtml |title=Nuclear fallout in Sheffield |newspaper=[[BBC Yorkshire|BBC South Yorkshire]] |date=22 April 2005 |access-date=5 January 2014 |archive-date=21 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021064049/http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2005/04/22/threads_interviews_feature.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> and took place in the ballroom of [[Sheffield City Hall]], where 1,100 candidates turned up.<ref name=actingarma /> Extras were chosen on the basis of height and age, and were all told to look "miserable" and to wear ragged clothes; the majority were [[CND]] supporters.<ref name="newstatesman2018"/> The makeup for extras playing [[third degree burn|third-degree-burn]] victims consisted of [[Rice Krispies]] and [[tomato ketchup]],<ref name="localhistory"/> while the prop umbilical cord that Ruth bites through after giving birth to Jane was made from [[Liquorice (confectionery)|liquorice]].<ref name="newstatesman2018"/> The scenes taking place six weeks after the attack were shot at Curbar Edge in the [[Peak District]] National Park; because weather conditions were considered too fine to pass off as a nuclear winter, stage snow had to be spread around the rocks and heather, and cameramen installed light filters on their equipment to block out the sunlight.<ref name=actingarma /> Although Jackson initially considered casting actors from [[ITV Granada|Granada Television's]] ''[[Coronation Street]]'', he later decided to take a [[Neorealism (art)|neorealist]] approach, and opted to cast relatively unknown actors to heighten the film's impact through the use of characters the audience could relate to.<ref name="scotsman"/>

For the horror of ''Threads'' to work, Jackson made an effort to leave some things unseen, "to let images and emotion happen in people's minds, or rather in the extensions of their imaginations".<ref name="newstatesman2018"/> He later recalled that while BBC productions would usually be followed by phone calls of congratulations from friends or colleagues immediately after airing, no such calls came after the first screening of ''Threads''. Jackson later "realised...that people had just sat there thinking about it, in many cases not sleeping or being able to talk". He stated that he had it on good authority that [[Ronald Reagan]] watched the film when it aired in the US.<ref name="scotsman"/> Along with Hines, Jackson also received a letter of praise from [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Labour leader]] [[Neil Kinnock]], stating "the dangers of complacency are much greater than any risks of knowledge".<ref name="newstatesman2018"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Whitelaw |first=Paul |date=21 November 2013 |title=Threads – box set review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/21/threads-box-set-review |website=The Guardian |access-date=16 December 2016 |archive-date=22 April 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170422153815/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/21/threads-box-set-review |url-status=live }}</ref>

The circumstances in which Jane's child is conceived towards the end of the film have been interpreted as [[rape]].<ref name=AVClub /><ref>{{cite web|title=Threads (1984)|work=[[British Film Institute|BFI]] ScreenOnline|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/730560/synopsis.html|access-date=24 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Threads (1984)|work=Unconsenting Media|url=https://www.unconsentingmedia.org/items/2493|date=23 August 2024|access-date=24 October 2024}}</ref>