A terrifying and chilling drama which showed the horrific impact of nuclear missile attacks on South Yorkshire is to be given a rare TV screening tonight – to mark its 40th anniversary.

The 1984 movie showed Sheffield in the aftermath of a nuclear attack on South Yorkshire – including a missile blitz on the former RAF Finningley air base, now the site of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

The harrowing film, written by Barry Hines, centres on two families as a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union escalates.

The movie shows nuclear weapons raining down on South Yorkshire - including the former RAF base and Tinsley Viaduct - and Sheffield Town Hall being destroyed.

Threads, the terrifying film about a nuclear attack on South Yorkshire, will get a rare screening on TV tonight.

placeholder image — Threads, the terrifying film about a nuclear attack on South Yorkshire, will get a rare screening on TV tonight.

Shot on a budget of £400,000, the film was the first of its kind to depict a nuclear winter.

It has been called "a film which comes closest to representing the full horror of nuclear war and its aftermath, as well as the catastrophic impact that the event would have on human culture.”

It was nominated for seven BAFTA awards in 1985 and won for Best Single Drama, Best Design, Best Film Cameraman and Best Film Editor.

Dubbed “one of the most terrifying programmes ever shown on British television” it was first broadcast on 23 September 1984 and anyone who tuned in to BBC Two on that Sunday evening would experience a bleak and unforgettable depiction of a massive nuclear bomb attack on a British city.

Rarely seen on television since its first broadcast, it's being shown again on BBC Four and iPlayer tonight (9 October) from 10pm.