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Whoops ApocalypseWhoops Apocalypse was originally a six-part 1982 sitcom by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, made by London Weekend Television for ITV. Marshall and Renwick later reworked the concept as a 1986 movie with almost completely different characters and plot although one or two of the original actors returned in different roles. Series The series featured a chaotic and increasingly unstable global political situation in which nuclear alerts are accidentally triggered by malfunctioning Space Invaders machines, the naive U.S. President Johnny Cyclops (an obvious Ronald Reagan parody) is advised by an insane right-wing fundamentalist, and the Soviet Premier is in fact a series of clones, which keep dying and being replaced. The situation is further complicated by the development of a new super-powerful American nuclear weapon. This is originally called the Johnny Cyclops Bomb; later, when the President vetoes the name, it is renamed the Quark Bomb, Formerly Called the Johnny Cyclops Bomb. Meanwhile the deposed (fictional) Shah of Iran, led by an advisor who is always blindfolded to avoid looking upon the Shah's magnificence, is shunted around the world in search of a refuge, while at the same time Lacrobat, an eccentric international arms smuggler and master of disguise, has stolen a Quark Bomb and is on his way to Iran, not realising that the Soviets have invaded it. At the same time the British Prime Minister has gone insane and believes himself to be Superman, and is persuaded by the Soviets to join the Warsaw Pact. Eventually the Quark Bomb is accidentally detonated in Israel when Lacrobat's attempt to prevent it goes horribly wrong. Meanwhile the Shah, who has temporarily been given sanctuary aboard a space shuttle, manages to crash it into Moscow. In the final scene Soviet missiles are on their way to obliterate the United States and President Cyclops has to decide whether to retaliate. Movie The 1986 film version, directed by Tom Bussmann, uses an almost completely different plot from the series, but also ends with an accidentally-triggered nuclear holocaust (hence the title). full plot details required Loretta Swit is notable for playing a straight role as a female U.S. President.
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