A group of civil servants, including the Minister of Defence, meet for three days to practice the crisis protocol that needs to be followed during a nuclear attack. The tense War Book, which takes place in a single room, throws up all manner of political and moral dilemmas of great relevance in this time of crisis (think ISIS, Ebola, the Ukraine): who should be helped first (and why); how to ration food and medicines; whether to cooperate with the USA or not; and crucially, when to unleash the completely destructive power of atomic weapons? Personal preferences and prejudices play a role in the increasingly heated discussions that light up the strong ensemble cast, with Sophie Okenodo as the Chair and Ben Chaplin as a smooth-operating advisor. The provocative screenplay is based on information released in 2009: during the Cold War, British civil servants did in fact consult on possible ‘war books’.
