"This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service..."

This file contains documents detailing discussions between the BBC and various government departments on the use of a pre-recorded announcement in the case of a nuclear attack. A draft script urges members of the public to stay indoors to avoid radioactive fall-out, save water, ration food and turn off all gas and fuel supplies.

An issue of concern raised by the Ministry of Ports and Telecommunications was that an unfamiliar voice repeating the same message could lead listeners to suspect the BBC had been obliterated. It was felt that familiar voices were necessary to reassure people "the BBC is still there".

In a letter from June 1974, Harold Greenwood from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications discussed who should read the announcement to give it an authoritative and comforting tone.

"During the Second World War we came to recognise the voices of Stuart Hibberd, Alvar Lidell and other main news readers," he wrote. "I would expect that in the period of crisis preceding an attack a similar association of particular voices with the authoritative 'voice of the BBC' would develop."


The script said: "This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. Communications have been severely disrupted, and the number of casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known."

It instructed the public to turn off fuel supplies, ration food to last 14 days, and conserve water - with a warning not to waste it by flushing the lavatory.

There was nothing to be gained by trying to get away, it warned. "By leaving your homes you could be exposing yourselves to greater danger. If you leave, you may find yourself without food, without water, without accommodation and without protection."

Those in a radioactive fall-out area were told to wait in a fall-out room until a siren sounded or the "all clear" message was given over the airwaves.


It has previously been revealed the BBC stockpiled entertainment programmes to boost public morale in the event of a war.

In the event of a nuclear attack, staff were told to stay in hiding for 14 days, when it would be safe to leave.