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'{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Use British English|date=May 2012}} {{Infobox television | name = The Day Britain Stopped | image = The Day Britain Stopped.png | caption = | genre = [[Drama]]<br />[[Docufiction]]<br />[[Pseudo-documentary]] | creator = | based_on = | developer = | writer = {{Plainlist | *Simon Finch *[[Gabriel Range]] }} | director = [[Gabriel Range]] | creative_director = | starring = | narrated = [[Tim Pigott-Smith]] | theme_music_composer = | opentheme = | endtheme = | composer = Alan O'Duffy | country = United Kingdom | language = English | executive_producer = {{Plainlist | *[[Peter Horrocks]] *Leanne Klein }} | producer = Simon Finch | editor = {{Plainlist | *Horacio Queiro *Simon Greenwood }} | location = | cinematography = | camera = | runtime = 90 minutes | company = | distributor = [[Wall to Wall Media (production company)|Wall to Wall Media]] | channel = [[BBC Two]] | picture_format = | audio_format = | first_aired = {{Start date|2003|5|13|df=y}} | preceded_by = | followed_by = | related = [[The Man Who Broke Britain]] | website = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_day_britain_stopped/ | production_website = http://www.walltowall.co.uk/program/the-day-britain-stopped_29.aspx }} '''''The Day Britain Stopped''''' is a [[Pseudo-documentary|dramatic pseudo-documentary]] produced by [[Wall to Wall Media (production company)|Wall to Wall Media]] for the [[BBC]]. It is based on a fictional disaster on 19 December 2003, in which a train strike is the first in a chain of events that lead to a meltdown of the country's transport system. Directed by [[Gabriel Range]], who wrote the script with producer Simon Finch, the film first aired on BBC2 in May 2003. The drama made use of various British television news services and newsreaders (such as [[Sky News]] and [[Channel 4]] News), foreign news channels (such as France's [[TF1]]), radio stations ([[Radio Five Live]]), real-life footage (from a [[train crash]] site, a speech by [[Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]], and various stock footage of British traffic congestion), and several cameo roles by well-known British personalities. Accompanying music included excerpts from the movie soundtracks of ''[[The Shawshank Redemption (soundtrack)|The Shawshank Redemption]]'' and ''[[The Sum of All Fears (film)|The Sum of All Fears]]''. ==Plot== Between 4 and 5 December 2003, 18 months after the [[Potters Bar rail accidents#2002|Potters Bar rail accident]], a fatal train accident near [[Edinburgh Waverley railway station|Waverley Station]] in [[Edinburgh]] leads to the [[ASLEF]] and [[National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers|RMT]] [[trade union]]s to declare a strike for 19 December due to safety concerns, forcing the heavy [[Christmas]] rail passenger traffic to use the roads instead, and that buses will replace trains. ASLEF General Secretary [[Mick Rix]]'s decision to declare the strike is heavily criticised by the government, particularly by Junior Transport Minister Tom Walker. On 19 December, Julian Galt and his family are travelling into Central London to look for Christmas gifts, en-route to Heathrow Airport where they intend to take a flight to [[Bilbao]]. Julian's twelve-year-old son records their adventures on a video camera. At the same time, Pauline Watkins and her daughter Charlie are going to old Trafford when a crossover accident on the [[M25 motorway]] in [[Surrey]] involving several vehicles takes place. Inspector Clive Turner, head of the [[Surrey Police]]'s [[Road Policing Unit]] makes the decision to close the motorway in both directions from the site of the accident. The resulting traffic congestion spreads at such a rate that, within minutes, the motorway is blocked at the junction with the [[M23 motorway|M23]]. Meanwhile, as British airspace runs over capacity to cope with the Christmas traffic, heavy traffic delays force the [[air traffic controller]]s to work double- and triple-shifts. Staff at the [[Channel Tunnel]] are also taking part in the rail strike, with all vehicles being rerouted to [[Dover]] for ferries to [[France]], while [[Eurostar]] passengers are booked on to flights instead, and a ghost service is running on the trains but with no passengers on board. Attempts at relieving the gridlock are hampered by a lack of coordination between police services overseeing different sections of the motorway, leading to cases of traffic being diverted onto the same roads in opposite directions. Traffic that managed to work its way through the diversion route past the Surrey accident suffers a further setback when a chemical tanker lorry driven by Steve Thomas [[jackknifing|jackknifes]] and overturns on the M25 near to [[Heathrow Airport]], causing a [[pile-up]] and further tailbacks, resulting in a second closure on the M25 in both directions for the rest of the day, and heavy delays on the [[M1 motorway|M1]], [[M2 motorway (Great Britain)|M2]], [[M3 motorway (Great Britain)|M3]], [[M11 motorway|M11]] and [[M20 motorway|M20]], all major artery roads leading to [[London]]. Re-routed traffic attempts to drive through [[Central London]], without much success. Charlie Watson, whose mother's car was hit in the lorry accident earlier that day, whilst travelling to [[Old Trafford]], becomes the first fatality when her gridlocked ambulance runs out of necessary medicine. As traffic worsens, Jerry Newell, a pilot for [[British Airways]], is being driven to [[Heathrow Airport]] by his wife, Jane, in order to reach his flight to [[Toulouse-Blagnac Airport|Toulouse]]. Caught in the gridlock, he makes the decision to make his way to the airport on foot, while A friendly [[football (soccer)|football]] match between [[England national football team|England]] and [[Turkey national football team|Turkey]] at [[Old Trafford (football ground)|Old Trafford]] in [[Manchester]] is cancelled for low attendance, with thousands stranded on the [[M6 motorway|M6]] and [[M40 motorway|M40]], effectively shutting down Manchester and [[Birmingham]]. The message is delivered by a stunned [[Gary Lineker]] on ''[[Match of the Day]]''. Back at Heathrow, flights begin to be cancelled, and essential staff such as Pilots, Cabin Crew, Ground crew, Traffic Controllers, Airport Staff, Police officers, Firefighters, Supermarket Workers, Bus Drivers, Dock Staff and Ferry Captains are stranded unable to get to work, and Train Crews are told to get Trains Ready. Meanwhile, the Galt family are held up on the M25 with along with countless other motorists after the tanker crash. Numerous people try to escape the motorway in their cars or on foot, but are stopped by the [[Thames Valley Police]], who either escort people back to their cars on foot or attempt to have [[Police motorcycle|motorcycle officer]]s pursue and stop fleeing vehicles from going off-road. As night falls, [[hypothermia]] sets in among many of the stranded motorists. Julian's wife notices that Heathrow is less than a mile away on foot. After Julian is successfully convinced by his wife to lead the family to the airport, the group sneak past immobilised cars and police officers on motorbikes to get off the motorway, walking through farm fields in the darkness to reach a minibus waiting on a minor road. After taking his son's camera, Julian tells his family that he's going to return to the car so it isn’t towed away, and that he'll catch the next flight to Bilbao in the morning, the rest of the family arrive at Heathrow and Board the British Airways flight to Bilbao. Severe hypothermia now incapacitates numerous vulnerable motorists, and several more of the trapped drivers begin to die of exposure. The authorities realise their attempts to force people to stay with their vehicles are making the situation worse, and so Operation Gridlock, an emergency contingency plan authorised by the government is formulated and implemented, with everyone now being instructed to leave their cars and head to shelters on fields. People most at risk are taken to [[field hospital]]s near the shelters for triage. Meanwhile, the British Airways flight to Bilbao is cleared for pushback at Heathrow. Air-traffic controller Nicola Evans volunteers to work late at Heathrow when her replacement does not turn up. Overworked, she accidentally sends an [[Aer Lingus]] jet to land on the same runway as a [[Czech Airlines]] cargo flight due to follow it. Meanwhile, the British Airways flight to Bilbao is cleared for take off on the other runway. However, the Czech jet is going too fast and conflicting instructions are given by the other air traffic controllers in Heathrow's tower. After agonising over Their choices, They issue an instruction to [[go-around]] to the Czech jet, which does so, avoiding the Aer Lingus plane, but climbing into the flight path of the departing British Airways flight to Bilbao. The two planes collide, and all passengers and crew on board are killed. Unaware that his family were on the British Airways flight, Julian witnesses the explosion as he makes his way back to his car, capturing footage of the disaster on his son's camera. Burning wreckage falls across much of [[Hounslow]], flattening streets and setting areas of the town and its surroundings on fire. Emergency services struggle to reach the scenes due to the clogged roads, and have to resort to using minor roads. Due to the proximity of Heathrow to the crash site, the airport's fire services are sent out to assist in the rescue efforts, but this in turn forces the airport to close, with incoming flights being diverted elsewhere, and all flights out of all UK Airports are Cancelled After UK Airspace is closed and the trains start taking passengers. Jane returns to her home in [[Shepperton]] several hours after Jerry left her car to walk to the airport, and finds news of the disaster on the television. She begins to worry and tries calling staff at the airport for information about whether her husband was okay. She finds that the flight involved in the disaster was to Bilbao and is briefly calmed; however, she then receives a phone call from British Airways, telling her that Jerry's flight to Toulouse was cancelled; he instead had been called in to captain the flight to Bilbao, and was killed in the crash Save for Julian, whose decision to return to the motorway to ensure his car wasn't taken away saved his life, the entirety of the Galt family is now dead, A funeral is held at a nearby crematorium Next Morning. Nicola Evans, and two other air traffic controllers are dismissed from their jobs and eventually put on trial for multiple [[manslaughter in English law|manslaughter]] charges for their negligence. The charges are dropped after revelations over larger issues in Heathrow's air-traffic control to do with the missed approach procedure, and the similarity in the disaster to a previous near miss (also fictitious), causing the prosecution's case to collapse in the process. The final death toll of the disaster was 87 people - All 64 passengers and crew, and 23 on the ground were killed. There were also five deaths from hypothermia on the motorways, eight elsewhere and the rail strike is halted amid rising pressure from the UK Government. One year later, a memorial service is held at [[St Bride's Church]] in Central London for the victims who died in the events, Julian Galt married Jane Newll that summer and they have 4 Children, they still go to Bilbao at Christmas. ==Cast== *Eric Carte as Tom Walker *Andy Shield as Inspector Clive Turner *[[Stephen North|Steve North]] as Julian Galt *Angelo Andreou as Tomas Galt *Emma Pinto as Ana Galt *Olivia MacDonald as Marina Galt *[[Prue Clarke]] as Pauline Watkins *[[Jonathan Linsley]] as PC Tony Foster *Tony Longhurst as Steve Thomas *David Holt as Dominic Steel *Joanna Griffiths as Nicola Evans *Alison Skot as Air Traffic Controller *Daniel Copeland as Matt Ogden *Nancy McClean as Jane Newell *Rebekah Janes as a concerned woman *Satnam Bhogal as Inesh Gunwadena *Tim Crouch as Daniel Boyd [[Tim Pigott-Smith]] provided the narration. [[Katie Derham]], [[Charlotte Green]], [[Philip Hayton]], [[John Humphrys]], [[Gary Lineker]], [[Anna Rajan (journalist)|Anna Rajan]], [[Jon Snow (journalist)|Jon Snow]] and [[Kirsty Young]] appeared as themselves. Archive footage of [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]] was used, combining parts of his statements in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] about [[Air France Flight 4590]] and the [[Great Heck rail crash]]. ==Production== The [[M96 motorway]], a converted airfield used by the [[Fire Service College]] for training, was used as a stage for the [[M25 motorway|M25]]. ==Discrepancies== {{Original research section|date=December 2020}} As the drama was filmed in late 2002 with an airdate in May 2003, there are several discrepancies with real life events. In December 2003, the [[M6 Toll]] motorway bypassing the congested Birmingham and Wolverhampton stretches of the M6 had only just opened to traffic, although the motorway was still under construction at the time of broadcast and therefore hardly mentioned. However, during an interview, fictional Junior Transport Minister Tom Walker mentions that 'billions' had been spent on widening the [[M6 motorway|M6]] between Birmingham and Manchester. Traffic is shown to be driving through Central London without any mention of the [[London congestion charge]], which began operations in February 2003. Traffic is mentioned to be stuck on the [[M6 motorway|M6]] and [[M40 motorway|M40]] when going to [[Old Trafford (football ground)|Old Trafford]], but no mention is made of the much more congested [[M60 motorway|M60]] near the stadium itself - and an international friendly would never be played so close to the busy Christmas period, where it's not unknown for even [[Premier League]] teams to play four games in ten days (especially against a team who they had just played in a competitive game - England had played Turkey in a [[UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying#Group 7|Euro 2004]] qualifier in October 2003). Also at that time international fixtures weren't played on Friday nights nor indeed any top flight club games. While the programme made extensive use of various news channels, several had changed their branding and presentation before December 2003. ==Reception== ''[[Radio Times]]'' said: "Scarily realistic ... chilling ... a remarkable piece of reality based drama ... a credible scenario ... a wonderful piece of television ... so plausibly done that it should really have a warning flash in the corner of the screen saying 'fiction' in big red letters ... loving pastiches of news reports, corporate videos, magazine covers, press conferences - the fakery is fascinating, like looking at a forged bank note. It works as a smart riveting drama and also as a warning of the power of the financial markets".<ref name="W">{{cite web | url=http://www.walltowall.co.uk/program/the-day-britain-stopped_29.aspx | title=The Day Britain Stopped | work=Wall to Wall | accessdate=24 September 2013}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * {{FilmLinks}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Day Britain Stopped, The}} [[Category:British docufiction films]] [[Category:British films]] [[Category:BBC television docudramas]] [[Category:Films set in 2003]] [[Category:Films set in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:2003 television films]] [[Category:2003 films]] [[Category:2003 in British television]] [[Category:British television films]] [[Category:Films about aviation accidents or incidents]]'