RTÉ drama to depict chaos following Sellafield disaster

A new RTÉ docu-drama depicts anarchy in Dublin and a mass flight from Ireland's east coast after a nuclear disaster at Sellafield.

But the makers of Fallout - to be screened next Sunday and Monday on RTÉ 1 - insist the film is a work of fiction which has no agenda other than to entertain viewers.

Part one portrays the immediate aftermath of an explosion at the nuclear reprocessing plant, as a radioactive cloud crosses the Irish Sea.

Using RTÉ and BBC-style news reports, as well as "amateur" footage from video phones, the film tracks the public reaction from bewilderment to panic, as thousands attempt to flee the affected areas.

Part two is set a year later and revisits some of the characters from the first film, including a Louth farming family whose land is left permanently unusable by contamination.

No real-life journalists or TV presenters were used in the "news" segments, but Met Éireann's Gerald Fleming plays a central role as the weather forecaster tracking the movement of the radioactive plume.

Trailers for the film have already provoked a very small number of queries from viewers, who were worried by its realistic style.

But speaking at a media preview of the programme in RTÉ last night, commissioning editor Mary Callery said she was satisfied that the audience would not mistake the film for anything except drama.

"It's not a scientific treatise. It's dramatic fiction. We're looking at the human response and asking the question, 'What would you do if...?'"

The film was heavily researched, however, and the events depicted are "absolutely possible", according to the director, David Caffrey.

British nuclear expert John Large, who acted as a technical consultant, said that the Irish emergency services would struggle to cope with such a disaster.

The film was a "very accurate portrayal of what could happen," he added.