Channel 4 to Air 'What If' Cyber Attack Drama

22 August 2013

Channel 4 has commissioned a feature-length ‘What-If’ drama exploring the effects of a devastating cyber-attack on Britain’s national electricity grid.

Based on expert advice and meticulous research, Blackout combines real user-generated footage, alongside fictional scenes, CCTV archive and news reports to build a terrifyingly realistic account of Britain being plunged into darkness.

The film plots the first five days immediately following a catastrophic nationwide power cut, as experienced by a cast of ordinary characters struggling to feed and protect themselves and their families. These dramatic eyewitness accounts reveal the disastrous impact of a prolonged blackout on hospitals, law and order, transport, and our food and water supply.

Blackout brings the ‘What-If’ genre up to date by giving it a found-footage twist. Fictional scenes with professional and non-professional actors are filmed on mobile phones, laptops and camcorders, and seamlessly interweaved with real found-footage recorded during actual power cuts and other emergencies.

In a television first, the programme casts members of the public from user-generated footage, weaving real-life archive with scripted drama to tell the story of how Britain descended into chaos and anarchy without power.

Made by Raw TV and ordered by Channel 4’s deputy head of Factual, Nick Mirsky, the film is directed by BAFTA-winner Ben Chanan and the executive producer is Richard Bond.

Ben Chanan said: "I'm delighted Channel 4 have commissioned such a bold and experimental programme, cross-cutting actors with video bloggers, shooting drama on mobiles, taking an anarchic approach to filming Britain in anarchy."

Nick Mirsky, Channel 4’s deputy head of Factual, said: “This is completely new and innovative way to dramatize our total dependence on electricity by asking what would happen if Britain were to be plunged into darkness – not for a few hours, but for five days.”

Blackout will be broadcast in September, 2013.