Protect and Survive was the title of a series of booklets and a Public Information Film series produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s dealing with emergency planning for a nuclear war.
The purpose of the programme was to provide members of the public with instructions on how to protect themselves and survive a nuclear attack. If such an attack had been deemed likely by the Government during any period of international crisis, a copy of the ‘Protect and Survive’ booklet would have been distributed to every home in the UK, and the films would have been transmitted on domestic television. The booklet and the films detailed a series of steps to be undertaken by the public to improve their chances of survival during a nuclear attack. These included the recognition of an attack warning, fallout warning, and all-clear signals, the preparation of a home “fallout room” and the stockpiling of food, water, and other emergency supplies.
‘Protect and Survive’ was simply designed, easy to understand, and similar to the advice of most other emergency planning authorities of the time. In the opinion of some contemporary critics, however, the ‘Protect and Survive’ films were deeply and surprisingly fatalistic in tone.
The ‘Protect and Survive’ animated series were produced by Richard Taylor Cartoons, who also created ‘Rabies Kills’ and the well-known ‘Charley Says’ series.