Laughing about World War III

Press, 21 July 1982, Page 19

Laughing about World War III

"Whoops Apocalypse," a six-part series chronicling the outrageous events leading up to World War 111, will begin on Two tomorrow at 10.15 p.m. In the first episode it is election year on both sides of the Atlantic, and with the world in a state of nuclear jumpiness, the United States President, Johnny Cyclops, is as popular as rabies. His chances of re-election are theatened by two major crises.

In Russia, ruled by the ageing Premier Dubienkin, two American tourists have been taken hostage by the K.G.B. and in the Middle East a revolutionary junta has decided to move against’ vital United States interests. Guided by his fanatical security adviser, The Deacon — a man with a personal hotline to God — Cyclops realises there is only one option if he is to save the economic stability of Western civilisation ... and, more importantly, his job. "Whoops Apocalypse,” says TVNZ, is a situation comedy, “a hard-nosed, soft-centred investigation into the end of civilisation as we know it.” It takes in an American presidential election, a British general election, several look-alike Soviet premiers, the oil crisis, a claimant to the throne of Iran, a stolen nuclear bomb and more. It assumes that viewers know about the Warsaw Pact, the S.A.L.T. talks, N.A.T.0., the C.1.A., and the

K.G.8., unilateral disarmament, nuclear reactor plants and ballistic missiles, but tempers all that with slapstick comedy and funny routines borrowed from old Hollywood movies. The writers, Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, have garnished an alarming concept with comic situations. “We worked out a frighteningly believable plot, then inserted routines that got sillier and funnier without altering the narrative shape,” says Renwick. “Of course, everything in this could happen. It’s imponderables that start wars.”

"There’s an enormous public interest in the end of the world,” says Marshall. "And there are a number of things that need saying about international politics. We think it’s healthy to set people laughing about their darkest worries. And on a superficial level they'll find" a lot to enjoy.”

Marshall and Renwick spent nearly a year writing the "Whoops Apocalypse” scripts, with each of them writing separately and crossfertilising their ideas. They acknowledge that they often disagreed, but they presented a united front when they finally submitted the scripts. The cast of “Whoops Apocalypse” includes Barry Morse as President Cyclops, John Barron as The Deacon, Richard Griffiths as Dubienkin and Bruce Montague as Shah Mashiq Rassim.