The Day Britain Stopped

6.30pm - 8.00pm 18th Jan

Did anyone else see this? It was a documentary about what 'could' happen if the UK transport network got overloaded and it was portrayed as a real documentary with news reports and interviews with people involved so it felt quite real.

The whole thing spanned from a rail strike and escalated to gridlocks on the M25 and related accidents, people sitting in their cars for over 8 hours and getting hypothermia due to below-zero temperatures, air traffic controllers not being able to get to their stations due to being stuck in traffic and eventually a mid air collision between two aircraft at Heathrow due to errors in the system.

It focused on three families and one air traffic controller who were emotionally scarred by the whole incident. A pilot's wife who's husband was on one of the planes, a husband who's wife and two children were on the same plane,a mother who lost her daughter in a motorway crash because the ambulances couldn't get through to the hospital fast enough due to the gridlock and the air traffic controller who was directing the planes when they crashed.

Quite hard-hitting stuff really, even though it was fiction.

I saw this and thought is was quite worrying. Not knowing how much of it was fact or fiction though made me a bit sceptical.

The "fictional" website is here for anyone who didn't catch it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/britainstopped

However, I just heard this on the radio today...

I had a look at the website on the BBC and found this. I guess NATS had to respond with something. Couldn't have us thinking that we weren't safe coming in or going out.

I'm sure I saw the same programme about a year ago. Didn't see the one you're talking about, but I presume its a repeat of the one I saw last year.

Dunno to be honest. It was set between Dec 2003 an Dec 2004 but I guess could've been made at any time.

Originally posted by t020

I'm sure I saw the same programme about a year ago. Didn't see the one you're talking about, but I presume its a repeat of the one I saw last year.

It was a repeat of the one shown last year.

Is it available to rent do you know?

I missed that first time round, and now I've missed it again.

i watched it last year too! they put the program online too! but i dunno about this year

i thought it was realistic and worrying! it scares me that such tragic accidents can be done so easily

i thought it was real. not old enough to remember if it was.

but it sounded real and looked as though it was real

i watched it last year too and thought it ws real then too

Originally posted by Fletch

i thought it was real. not old enough to remember if it was.

 

but it sounded real and looked as though it was real

 

i watched it last year too and thought it ws real then too

Suffering from long term memory loss already?

Originally posted by MrHelicopter

Suffering from long term memory loss already?

It's a proven fact that, due to television, youger people have shorter attentio.... erm.... somthing.