Protect and Survive - Cultural Impact

Cultural Impact

The programme created a substantial impact upon the popular culture of the UK of the early 1980s, most notably in music. Film series narrator Patrick Allen was featured in certain early remixes of the song "Two Tribes" by the UK pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, saying, "Mine is the last voice you will ever hear. Do not be alarmed," in a tone similar to that used by him in the PIFs.

Rock band Jethro Tull recorded a song called "Protect and Survive" on the 1980 album A, also criticising the initiative. The title of a song by the hardcore punk/D-beat band Discharge featured a play on words ("Protest and Survive"), a reference to E. P. Thompson's anti-nuclear manifesto (see below). Heavy metal band Wolfsbane's self-titled album contains a song called "Protect and Survive."

The Scottish rock band Runrig released a song entitled "Protect and Survive," which has an apocalyptic theme, on their 1987 album, The Cutter and The Clan. The same year, Irish folk group The Dubliners also released a song entitled "Protect and Survive" on their album 25 Years Celebration. The song is a witty comment on Protect and Survive from an Irish perspective.

In print, Raymond Briggs' graphic novel When the Wind Blows (later adapted as an animated film, radio and stage play) obliquely mentions various aspects of the Protect and Survive programme, and the BBC play Threads featured three of the series' films: Stay at Home, Action After Warnings and Casualties. The leaflet series became the subject of detailed and scholarly criticism from anti-nuclear authors (such as E. P. Thompson), who produced a counterargument entitled Protest and Survive. The children's novel Children of the Dust refers to one of the inner refuge designs mentioned in the leaflets, public information films and radio tapes.

On television, Protect and Survive was thoroughly lampooned in the television series "The Young Ones" episode "Bomb." The Protect and Survive booklet appears on-screen during the episode. Also, in the Spooks episode "Nuclear Strike," the character Malcolm is seen viewing one of the information videos.

In the video game Fallout 2 intro, there is a parody of Protect and Survive information on what to do when leaving the shelters. The manual for Introversion Software's video game Defcon parodies Protect and Survive.

In a Channel 4 poll of the 100 scariest moments, Protect and Survive came 89th, just above Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula. The explanation for this, as explained by some celebrities on the show, was because of the films' grim instructions, unsettling music and the fact that "a nuclear war was one of the most disastrous things that could happen."

An Italian play called Protect and Survive. Vivere e amare sotto la minaccia nucleare (Live and love under the fallout menace) written and performed by Melania Fiore and Aldo E. Castellani, was based on the films. The play went on stage on November 2011 in Rome.

The full version is shown on a loop underground at the Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker in Essex, UK, and also at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker in Cheshire. Other copies are shown on loops at the Imperial War Museums in London and Manchester.