The Film the BBC Banned: Why 'The War Game' Was Too Real for TV in 1965

The Problematic Gaze

Buckle up Gazers this ain't gonna be pretty! In 1965, the BBC made a film so terrifying, so brutally honest about nuclear war, they banned it before it ever aired. The War Game wasn’t a horror movie—it was a government-funded drama-documentary about a nuclear attack on the UK that hit too close to home.

Why did the BBC pull the plug? What did Peter Watkins show the public that authorities didn’t want seen? And how did this “lost” film become one of the most chilling—and prophetic—anti-war statements of the 20th century?

This week on The Problematic Gaze, we uncover the shocking story behind The War Game, the politics of censorship, and why this forgotten film might be more relevant today than ever.

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