Metro columnist Adam Miller attended a press conference for Sky's televised adaptation of the podcast The Wargame, which explores how the UK would respond to a rapidly-moving national emergency. He found the scenario alarmingly realistic and concluded that Britain is woefully unprepared for a potential World War 3.
A secret London briefing
At a secret location in London, Miller and a group of journalists were given a briefing to learn what catastrophe had fallen upon Great Britain and which high-profile politicians would be guiding the country through its darkest chapter since World War 2. The imagined Prime Minister was Michael Gove, with Penny Mordaunt returning as Defence Secretary and Nicola Sturgeon as Deputy Prime Minister.
Miller noted that Sturgeon's inclusion in the 'national government' was the first source of comfort he found as the list of names rolled out. He spent the morning with 20 or so real-life journalists before being ushered into a lavish hall set up for an emergency press conference.
Sturgeon as voice of reason
Sturgeon was the brave soul to face the journalists, with no idea what questions would come her way. Five journalists were given questions in advance, but the imagined Deputy PM had no idea what they would be. Miller watched as she effortlessly reeled off impressive, well-constructed and heartfelt answers without a second's hesitation.
Watching The Wargame months later, Miller's instinct at the press conference was right. Across the first three episodes, Sturgeon emerges as the voice of reason in a cabinet that increasingly looks like it's itching for a fight, one of the few ministers pulling towards restraint while everyone else is thirsty for war.
A mess of a response
The show starts with an emergency COBR meeting: the cabinet watches CCTV footage of two fighter jet pilots shot and killed by a mystery assassin. From there, they must decide how to act with little to no information about the threat that lies ahead. Traditional right-wing voices such as Gove and Mordaunt have next to no patience for diplomacy, while Sturgeon and 'Home Secretary' Harriet Harman call for a more reasonable approach to avoid escalation.
Ultimately, the calls fall to Gove, and very quickly the UK finds itself at war with Russia with very few allies. The cabinet must decide which two areas to protect, because the UK no longer has the resources to protect even the majority of the country. They run into unexpected hurdles: Russia using social media to spread misinformation; former international allies unable to trust the UK because deep-fake videos seemingly made by Russia have made it look untrustworthy.
Essential viewing
Miller describes The Wargame as essential viewing, with a genuinely remarkable cast and brilliant, unsettling insight into what would really happen should the UK suddenly find itself under attack. Cabinet meetings are interrupted by clips of the public posting videos on social media of their immediate panic. 'There's not supposed to be a World War 3, especially in my lifetime,' says one woman on TikTok.
At a screening, Baroness Ayesha Hazarika, who serves as Gove's Director of Communications in the show, said: 'We have got to start having a national conversation about this, not just in the corridors of Westminster or in our newsrooms, but this is a conversation that has to go out into the communities, into workplaces, into schools, colleges, family around the dinner table.'
The Wargame launches on Sky One at 9pm on March 22 and will be available to stream on NOW.
