Smallpox 2002

I've posted this before and I thought it worthy of repeat but I saved it for the weekend because it is a bit of a potential time sink. Smallpox 2002 is a FICTIONAL 'documentary' made in 2001 by the BBC. It was commissioned and largely completed before both the 9/11 attacks and the anthrax attack that followed. The film has been shown in the US as "Smallpox", on FX. Although the program has some flaws, on the whole I thought it was well done. If it gets people to think in advance about what will happen in the next pandemic, whether it is influenza or bioterror, then that's a good thing. What parts of the program did you find unrealistic? Do you think events would have played out differently? Do you think this program is unnecessarily fear-mongering or do you think it is a valuable warning? The tagline for the movie was, "Drama, until it happens". Good one.

The program is rather addictive and lasts 90 minutes so don't start watching if you have other things to do!

For those whose history is shaky, let me repeat, this is fiction. There wasn't a smallpox epidemic in 2002 that killed 60 million people! For reference though, the 1918 influenza pandemic killed somewhere between 20 and 100 million people worldwide.

The embedded video above is just part 1 of 9. Here's a link to the complete Playlist.