"In an urban society, everything connects. Each person's needs are fed by the skills of many others. Our lives are woven together in a fabric. But the connections that make society strong also make it vulnerable."

"There's been no response from the Soviet government as yet to the United States ultimatum delivered to Moscow last night. The American note calls for joint withdrawal of all U.S. and Soviet forces from Iran by noon on Sunday. However, NATO observers in West Germany have reported increasing build-ups of Warsaw Pact troops and vehicles at points along the central frontier this morning. The Ministry of Defence has announced it's sending more troops to Europe to reinforce the British commitment to NATO. The first contingent left RAF Brize Norton this morning."

"Britain has emergency plans for war. If central government should ever fail, power can be transferred instead to a system of local officials dispersed across the country. In an urban district like Sheffield, there is already a designated wartime controller. He's the city's peacetime chief executive. If it should suddenly become necessary, he can be given full powers of internal government. When, or if, this happens depends on the crisis itself."

"In the last few days, emergency headquarters like this have been hastily improvised up and down the country, in the basements of town halls and civic centres."

"The day has been marked by a number of demonstrations up and down the country, reflecting support for and against the government's decision to reinforce Europe. Although most of these passed off without incident, police made a number of arrests for disorderly conduct at rallies in the North and Midlands."

"It was cloaked to a great extent in secrecy almost. [...] You knew what it was about, but the script was a close-kept secret I think. Not many people had seen it, and I think they were worried that it would go the same way as War Games, which was made but never seen, so it was all quite mysterious really."

"It's hard to watch and it should be hard to watch. It should frighten people, and if it's done that, it's done its job."

"I was unaware really of the importance of it at the time, but I was asked to go for an interview, which I did, and I was the first person that Mick Jackson saw for the part. And I went looking rather radical, because I thought "oh, it's about nuclear war", you know, and I'm a very radical person, so I kind of went wearing my sort of "combat gear" which was very "in" at the time. And it was really strange, because afterwords, when I got the part of Ruth, who turned out to be a very fragile sort of a person, I was surprised and he said having been the first one, he saw me for the part. He obviously saw something in me that was, I don't know, vulnerable, maybe. It was the only time I've ever said to a director "I would really like a part in this, regardless of what that part may be", because I knew that the content would be close to my heart."

"There's the hospital sequence in The Day After and there's the hospital sequence in Threads. [...] In The Day After people are being wheeled in on gurneys and everybody's stressed, but they're coping with it as they would do on ER or something like that. In Threads, the floor is covered with muck and shit and blood and people don't have anything they can work with. [...] We see people having their legs amputated without an anesthetic, just something stuck between their teeth for them to bite on. That's what it's going to be like! And I wanted every part of this movie to be "That's what it's going to be like"."

"What we’d depicted and its implications stayed in the minds of every actor and crew member for a long time. I’m sure there were some nightmares. There are some things so far outside our experience or comprehension that they are unthinkable. Nuclear war is one."

"I think Threads didn't keep people at arm's length, it drew people in because of the characters that everybody knew. I mean, we related to them, and that's what I think made Threads so visceral for people."

"The government has taken control of British Airways and all cross-channel ferries: they say it's a temporary step to help move troops to Europe; thousands are stranded at Heathrow and Gatwick; and the Royal Navy is to guard the North Sea oil rigs: the MOD says it's a prudent, precautionary measure."

"The real effect of a nuclear weapon is not what it does to things, to buildings, to cities: it's what it does to society, what it does to people, what it does psychologically. I was very struck by the work that an American writer called Robert Jay Lifton had done on the psychological effects of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima on the survivors and I talked to him a lot. It seemed to me that the story that needed to be told was the story of what this does to society as well as what it does to physical things, and you could only really tell that with a drama, with people that you identified with."

"Many of these officers have had no training at all. Some have learnt of their emergency role in the last few days, and almost all are unsure of their exact duties."

"Nuclear war is everyone’s problem, it’s not just country to country. It’s a worldwide problem, we all share it, and that’s why it’s so frightening now. Since Threads was made I’m sure there have been advances in what nuclear weapons can do."

"Of course, my character goes missing halfway through the film, so half of the filming I wasn’t privy to. [...] You want to know what happens, but you’re not told. I suppose the message is that’s exactly what it’ll be like — nothing will be tied up nicely because people will disappear."

"Who knows? He died, presumably. I have no more idea than anyone else, but that’s the point. That’s why it’s so clever."

"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."

"District Inland Transport Co-ordinator - James Lee"

"The unprovoked attack on our submarine, and the move into Iran, are the actions of a reckless and warlike power. I have to warn the Soviets in the clearest possible terms that they risk taking us to the brink of an armed confrontation, with incalculable consequences for all mankind."

"The United States government has been forced, reluctantly, to take action to safeguard what it believes are legitimate Western interests in the Middle East. This administration has therefore resolved to send units of its rapid deployment force, the U.S. Central Command, into western Iran. We are confident that the Soviet Union will take note of our resolve, and will desist from its present perilous course of action."

"Barry came up with the idea of the two families – one working class, the other lower-middle – and what their lives were like. Sheffield seemed a good place to set it, and Barry knew it well. It was bang in the middle of the country, and a good way from London. Strategically, it also made sense: there were industrial and military targets nearby. Both of us were interested in the idea that none of these characters would ever have a god’s-eye-view of events, and never find out what was happening outside their immediate experience, certainly not outside Sheffield. That seemed to be the way most people would have to deal with a nuclear apocalypse, with most forms of communication vaporised."

"Environmental Health Officer - D. [...]"

"Homelessness Officer(s) - Tony Barnes, Roy Chamberlain"

"Information Officer - D. Talbot"

"Food Officer - Roger Fisher"

"Manpower Officer - Susan Russell"

"From the point where the bomb happens, the whole nature of the movie changes. In the first half of the movie, I hope, you have a very full soundtrack. You have all the soundtrack of TV broadcasts and radio broadcasts, the sound of birdsong in the country, the sound of musical things happening, the sound of traffic and city noises. And from the moment that the bomb drops you don't have anything. You don't even have the teletype, all these things, they just type out in silence, and all you hear is wind. [...] You hear voices of people screaming, coughing or whatever. You hear wind, you hear no birds. [...] It's gone. That world is gone."

"Scientific Advisers - Keith H[...], A. Jennings, Charles [...]"

"Works Officer - George Cox"

"If you leave your home, your local authority may take it over for homeless families. And if you move, the authorities in the new place will not help you with food, accommodation, or other essentials. You are better off in your own home. Stay there. [theme]"

"If anyone dies, while you are kept in your fallout room, move the body to another room in the house. Label the body with name and address, and cover it as tightly as possible in polythene, paper, sheets, or blankets. If however, you have had a body in your house for more than 5 days, and, if it is safe to go outside, then you should bury the body for the time being in a trench, or cover it with earth and mark the spot of the burial. [theme]"

"The most widespread danger is fall-out. Fall-out is dust, that is sucked up from the ground by the explosion. Fall-out can kill."

"[attack warning] When you hear the attack warning, you and your family must take cover at once. Do not stay out of doors. If you are caught in the open, lie down. [first note of the theme]"

"The time has now come to make everything ready for you and your family, in case an air attack happens. This does not mean that war is bound to come, but there is a risk of this, and we must all be prepared for it."

"The Times:"

"Controller - Clive J. Sutton"

"Here are some ideas for making your inner refuge. One. Make a ‘lean-to’ with sloping doors or strong boards rested against an inner wall. Prevent them from slipping by fixing a length of wood along the floor. Build further protection of bags or boxes of earth or sand, or books, or even clothing, on the slope of your refuge, and anchor these also against slipping. Partly close [...]"

"Radiation levels are still dangerous. Residents of Release Band A—that is Woodseats, Dore and Totley, and Abbeydale—should not stay out of their shelters for more than two hours per day. Residents of Release Band B—that is Nether Edge, Banner Cross, and Broomhill—no longer than one hour per day."

"All able-bodied citizens—me[n], women and children—should report for reconstruction duties, commencing 08:00 hours tomorrow morning. The [in]habitants of Release Band A—that is Dore and Totley, Abbeydale, and Woodseats—should rendezvous in Abbeydale Park. Release Band B—that is Nether Edge, Broomhill, and Banner Cross—should rendezvous [...]"

"If we are to survive these difficult early months and establish [a] firm base for the redevelopment of our country, then we must concentrate all our energies on agricultural production."

"Have you made your inner refuge, inside the fall-out room? Have you strengthened it with dense materials? Have you put the following items in your fall-out room: enough water, in sealed or covered containers, to last you and your family for 14 days; enough food to last you and your family for 14 days, including tinned or powdered milk for the children, and food for the baby - and a closed cupboard or cabinet in which to store these supplies; a portable radio with spare batteries; a tin opener, bottle opener, cutlery, crockery and cooking utensils; improvised lavatory seat, polythene buckets fitted with covers, polythene bag linings, for emptying the containers, strong disinfectant and toilet paper; candles and matches [...]"

"In this movie, from the outset, I wanted to put it in the scale of people that you might know, people like yourself, your immediate family, relations and so on, and no bigger than that, and not really to show anything except how it would happen to them. So, there's no God's eye view in this movie. You don't actually get to look down and get the overall picture and see maps of Europe and maps of the world and so on. You just get what's happening to these people, and it's all really done from ground level. There's no cinematic crane shots or anything like that. It's just very, very documentary."

"This time they are playing with, at best, the destruction of life as we know it, and at worst, total annihilation. You cannot win a nuclear war! Now just suppose the Russians did win this war... What exactly would they be winning? What would they have conquered? Well, I'll tell you! All major centres of population and industry would have been destroyed. [Heckler: "Industry? What industry? We ain't got no industry in Sheffield!"] Yes, and if the money hadn't - [trying to make herself heard amongst the jeers] if the money hadn't - if the money hadn't been spent on nuclear weapons, you would have built up industry. We would have put money into welfare, we would have found alternative sources of energy. Industry... [pauses for applause] Industry will have been destroyed. The soil would have been irradiated. Farmstock would be dead, diseased or dying. The Russians would have conquered a corpse of a country."

"Deputy Controller - Alan Boulton"

"The Mail on Sunday (poster):"

"There's been a run on tinned food, sugar, and other storable items, which is causing shortages in some areas. A spokesman for the main supermarket chain said that panic buying is unnecessary. Fuel shortages are hindering resupply in some areas, but overall there is no shortage of stocks. They urge the public to calm down, be patient [...]"