BBC releases Nuclear Attack script

The BBC has published it’s script of what would happen in the event of a nuclear attack on Britain:

BBC TRANSCIPT TO BE USED IN WAKE OF NUCLEAR ATTACK

This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with
nuclear weapons. Communications have been severely disrupted, and the number of
casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known. We shall bring you
further information as soon as possible. Meanwhile, stay tuned to this
wavelength, stay calm and stay in your own homes.

Remember there is nothing to be gained by trying to get away. By leaving your
homes you could be exposing yourselves to greater danger.

If you leave, you may find yourself without food, without water, without accommodation and
without protection. Radioactive fall-out, which followed a nuclear explosion, is many
times more dangerous if you are directly exposed to it in the open. Roofs and
walls offer substantial protection. The safest place is indoors.

Make sure gas and other fuel supplies are turned off and that all fires are
extinguished. If mains water is available, this can be used for fire-fighting.
You should also refill all your containers for drinking water after the fires
have been put out, because the mains water supply may not be available for very
long.

Water must not be used for flushing lavatories: until you are told that
lavatories may be used again, other toilet arrangements must be made. Use your
water only for essential drinking and cooking purposes. Water means life. Don’t
waste it.

Make your food stocks last: ration your supply, because it may have to last for
14 days or more. If you have fresh food in the house, use this first to avoid
wasting it: food in tins will keep.

If you live in an area where a fall-out warning has been given, stay in your
fall-out room until you are told it is safe to come out. When the immediate
danger has passed the sirens will sound a steady note. The “all clear” message
will also be given on this wavelength. If you leave the fall-out room to go to
the lavatory or replenish food or water supplies, do not remain outside the room
for a minute longer than is necessary.

Do not, in any circumstances, go outside the house. Radioactive fall-out can kill. You cannot
see it or fell it, but it is there. If you go outside, you will bring danger to your family and you
may die. Stay in your fall-out room until you are told it is safe to come out or you
hear the “all clear” on the sirens.

Here are the main points again:

Stay in your own homes, and if you live in an area where a fall-out warning has
been given stay in your fall-out room, until you are told it is safe to come
out. The message that the immediate danger has passed will be given by the
sirens and repeated on this wavelength. Make sure that the gas and all fuel
supplies are turned off and that all fires are extinguished.

Water must be rationed, and used only for essential drinking and cooking
purposes. It must not be used for flushing lavatories. Ration your food supply:
it may have to last for 14 days or more.

We shall repeat this broadcast in two hours’ time. Stay tuned to this
wavelength, but switch your radios off now to save your batteries until we come
on the air again. That is the end of this broadcast.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood tried to capture the spirit and horror this would encapsulate in their 12″ remix of Two Tribes.

Many of us grew up under the threaten of total nuclear destruction during the Cold War. Through much of the 1980’s Ronald Reagan was seen as a warmonger similar to how George W Bush is now. As a child of the 70’s and 80’s, it was sometimes terrifying.

The most frightening film I’ve ever seen was the BBC’s documentary on what happens in a nuclear attack. Made in the early 1960’s, the government thought it terrifying as well - they effectively banned it for 20 years.

You can still find some of this on YouTube:

The War Game - part 1
The War Game - part 2
The War Game - part 3
The War Game - part 4
The War Game - part 5

The section on the Firestorm in part 3 is especially horrific by its dramatic realism.

When the Cold War finally finished, the relief was immense - but now instead of two superpowers posturing with nuclear arms, there are a rising number of countries around the world developing them.

To quote stand-up comedian Bill Hicks:

The news is just apocalyptic. Didn’t you think with the Cold War being over, things should have gotten better. How many of y’all were as stupid as I was in believing that?

Wow it’s over - 40 years of threat of nuclear weapons - it’s over, cool, cool… Wrong!

Now 12 different countries have nuclear weapons - it just got 12 times as bad, fuck you! Life is harder now. Work hard - oops jobs are scarce, fuck you, ha ha ha.