Anyone of a certain age will have less-than-fond memories of the terrifying public information films that would be shown in school and on TV, warning us of the dangers of playing on building sites or messing around with matches.
The War Game, a 1966 docu-drama, which the BBC deemed “too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting” and banned from TV for almost 20 years, takes this to the extreme.
Framed as a factual documentary, the film shows the brutal reality of what would happen if the UK was hit by a nuclear attack, narrated by the authoritative tones of newsreader Michael Aspel.
The 47-minute film written and directed by Peter Watkins wasn’t aired on TV until 1985, although it was shown in cinemas in the 1960s, and won the 1967 best documentary Oscar.
While it’s often been difficult to track down a way to watch The War Game, it’s now available on BBC iPlayer. Comparisons with 1984’s infamous TV film Threads, which graphically depicts a nuclear attack on Sheffield, are perhaps inevitable.
The War Game isn’t quite as graphic as Threads – which at one point makes the viewer watch a child burn alive – but it’s no less horrifying.
The black and white film begins with a depiction of rising tensions between the East and West, with the British government declaring a state of emergenc, and people are evacuated from larger towns and cities.
The film doesn’t skirt around the social and racial tensions of the time – with rationing in place, people are shown protesting that they already don’t have enough food to feed their own families, and one woman’s first question when she’s told she’ll have to house a group of evacuees asks what ethnicity they are.
The actual moment the missiles strike is brief, but shocking, with Michael Aspel grimly describing horrors such as melting eyeballs and burning skin, and a young boy is shown screaming in pain after being blinded by the flash. Aspel’s description of the shockwave sent by the detonation as sounding like “an enormous door slamming in the depths of hell” is genuinely chilling.
The scenes following this show what is left of the UK descend into bleak chaos, with police struggling to hold back starving masses desperate for something to eat and every doctor attempting to treat hundreds of patients. It doesn’t shy away from the stark decisions faced, with doctors shown shooting patients who are beyond help in the head and police executing agitators by firing squad.
It’s a far cry from the stiff upper lip Spirit of Dunkirk of just a couple of decades before. The spectre of the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Dresden looms large.
Key to the impact of the film is how real it all looks. There’s no Hollywood glamour at play – the people look, speak, and dress like real people you’d see on the street, and the nondescript part of Canterbury much of the footage is set in looks like it could just be around the corner. Years later Threads would use a similar trick by setting its action around the working-class communities of 1980s Sheffield.
And if you’re expecting a sense of hope or light at the end of the tunnel, there’s none to be found here. Seeing a traumatised small boy asked what he wants to be when he grows up reply “don’t want to be nothing” is one of the bleakest things I’ve ever seen on screen.
Harrowing though it may be, its impact is undeniable, with a 93 per cent rating on film reviews site Rotten Tomatoes.
One reviewer said: “The stark documentary realism of the film makes it effectively scary and unsettling even today, the retina burning images of despairing children in the aftermath of nuclear war will stay at the front of your mind for a long time.”
Another wrote: “Despite this being made over 40 years ago it is still hard-hitting stuff and I’m not surprised in the slightest the BBC banned it.”
Another, however, suggested it amounted to “scaremongering propaganda”. “Almost seems a bit insulting to a modern audience but there’s no arguing that this is excellently done,” they said.
With international tensions building day by day, The War Game stands as sobering viewing of a reality which isn’t as far removed from our own as we might hope. If you’ve got the stomach for it, The War Game is available now on BBC iPlayer.