10 British Horror TV Shows You've Probably Never Seen

Peter Watkins' choice to tackle the subject of nuclear holocaust in the style of a documentary produced a film so disturbing that it was shelved and not broadcast until the 1980s. A statement at the time, after consternation from both within the BBC and government, described how 'the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting.'

The War Game depicts events before, during, and after a Soviet nuclear attack on Britain. A well researched and entirely plausible series of events leads to a thermonuclear strike, with one bomb straying from its target and hitting Rochester serving as one key sequence, showing flash blindness and the resulting firestorm.

It is particularly in its aftermath sections that The War Game affects most, with the effects of radiation poisoning and resource scarcity leading to a sharp rise in suicide and civil unrest. Suffice to say, The War Game is a difficult watch but most chilling of all is how realistic it feels; seldom has such potential horror been so effectively and convincingly portrayed on television.