10 Most Controversial British TV Films

Peter Watkins’ unflinchingly realistic portrayal of a nuclear strike on Britain was thought so horrifying that it was effectively suppressed, only being broadcast nearly two decades after its creation.

The War Game blends fiction and documentary style to depict the events leading up to, during, and immediately after a Soviet nuclear strike on Britain, with particular scorn heaped upon authority figures who argue in favour of nuclear deterrent, showing them to be out of touch with reality by conveying the horrors of the effects of these weapons on the populace.

Originally slated to air on October 6, 1965, The War Game in fact made its first UK TV broadcast on 31 July 1985, nearly twenty years late. A report on the prospect of broadcasting the film in 1965 stated 'the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting.'

The War Game remains distressing viewing to this day. Despite this, it managed to win an Academy Award, after having been screened as a film when broadcasting was barred. It is a truly important piece of television history, and remains controversial.