Ben Marking's Fake BBC Nuclear Attack Broadcast (Full Resolution, Uncut, Unedited)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Commenters bring it up in nuclear-fear and WWIII threads as an unnervingly realistic piece of fictional news coverage.
What it is
A 56-minute fake BBC nuclear attack news broadcast originally made by Ben Marking, re-uploaded in full resolution. It is a fictional breaking-news special depicting nuclear war, and the uploader states it is not real.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2022 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends sillysaurusx · 2022-02 · on “Ask HN: Is anyone else genuinely scared that this is the start of WW3?”
Thanks to HN user eswat, you can: [this video] I recommend waiting till nighttime and turning up the volume for extra effect.
Recommends CalRobert · 2022-03 · on “Threads (1984) – Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect”
There's a pretty well-done War of the Worlds-style film where a local conflict escalates in to nuclear war at [this video]
Cites JoshTriplett · 2025-07 · on “Ask HN: Why isn’t Hollywood producing WWIII films in these perilous times?”
A very detailed fake BBC "Breaking News" special was produced a while back. The original seems to have disappeared, likely because people were sending it around without clear labeling as being intentionally fake, but here's one copy of it: [this video]