It's one of the most original films you'll likely see all year, which, depending on your threshold for certifiably crazy storylines, could be a rewarding experience or one that frustrates you.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

I have just managed to acquire this series on a second hand DVD (watched all three hours of it in one session) and, despite the fact that it is around 36 years old, it is still as brilliant as I recalled it. Yes, there is audience laughter that sometimes obscures the dialogue. Yes, there is quite a bit of ham. Yes, it is more of its time than would be allowed now. Yes, each episode features around 1.5mins of front piece/titles before the action starts (and with each episode coming in at under 28mins that does strike me as a lot). BUT...it has some great great laughs, and that is what really matters. Stand outs: From the cast, John Cleese will always attract the most attention, the man was at his peak at the time and certainly giving it a go playing multiple characters in the guise of a nuke-smuggling mercenary. David Kelly as the Iranian servant Abdab, blindfolded so that he does not view his Shah; a hapless yet fawning foil in the same vein as Basil Fawlty's Manuel. Ed Bishop as motor-mouthed, omnipresent news presenter Jay Garrick, delivering the headlines at what seems like 150 words a minute. Good old Geoffrey Palmer, stalwart, playing his standard hangdog character to perfection as the British foreign secretary to a prime minister who suddenly declares himself to be Superman. John Barron, a US adviser running rings around his naive president by arranging for a nuclear bomb to be stolen and trying to boost the presidents miserable ratings percentage by staging an assassination attempt.Reading the other reviews here it does appear that this comedy has been difficult to get hold of - it has been issued(?) on DVD a few times, it seems, but how many were produced in each production run? I believe I borrowed a VHS from a mate in the early 1990s - so my advice is to get it if you happen upon it, it is a gem. My pre-owned DVD comes with the big screen 'adaptation' that I haven't yet watched (different story, different characters, different cast in a film that, by all accounts, was made for an American audience and seems to have suffered accordingly - don't think I've seen it this century, but will review it when I have), and the dust jacket does feature images from both productions, including (worryingly?) a still of topless newsreader Kirstie Pooley: wonder if she would be happy with that, all these years later!

As an American, my obsession with British comedy often results in multiple letdowns (e.g. getting the wrong SINGING DETECTIVE DVD for Christmas). My encounter with WHOOPS APOCALYPSE is one-of-a-kind: while I didn't get the apparently lesser theatrical-release version with Peter Cook, I did get a truncated version which turned the six-episode series into one long 138 minute film with a laugh track. While it certainly retains all of the most hilarious moments of the show, I can't feel that I've missed something.Still, it's absolutely hilarious. Renwick and Marshall, writers of the show, are two of the greatest British comedy writers I have ever encountered. David Renwick wrote the poignant and occasionally gross-out sitcom ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE. Andrew Marshall wrote the equally quirky sitcom 2POINT4 CHILDREN. Together, they wrote for the cult classic radio sketch comedy show THE BURKISS WAY and this miniseries about Cold War brinkmanship.U.S. President Johnny Cyclops, an obvious Reagan parody, is played perfectly as a nervous, naive showbiz icon by Barry Morse. John Barron portrays his almost Cheney-esquire adviser, The Deacon, with particular pomp. Peter Jones has the quavery voice which sounds simply ridiculous as the senile Prime Minister who believes he is Superman. But there is no denying that the show's true strong point is the writing, especially shining through in Ed Bishop's portrayal of Jay Garrick, fast-talking newscaster. (On a late edition of the news, he quickly reads out "I'm Jay Garrick, and you're an insomniac.") Overall, a grand comedy. I continue to search for copies of the full six episodes (as well as the original POLICE SQUAD! series), but meanwhile I watch my version as a double bill with the darker DR. STRANGELOVE.

This is an undeservedly forgotten gem! I wonder why you can't get this one on video or DVD; it really deserves it. At least it deserves to be aired again. As with all great comedy it is dead serious at bottom, and its message is as urgent as it was in 1982. About the only serious line in the whole film is the very last one, and the effect is really powerful.

FOX Broadcasting had their own version of this show, simply named "Whoops!" which aired sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. In FOX's show, a group of ethnically-diverse people escaped the destruction of WW3 in a bomb shelter. After emerging, they found refuge in an old barn accompanied by a windmill in a lush green valley. To their dismay, they couldn't leave the barn due to the fact that a 3-story tall mutant ant wandered around the area. This show was a 30 minute sitcom, and was a comedy. It lasted for only one season. Although most people don't remember this show, I think of it as a cool TV memory from my childhood.