2019 will mark the thirtieth year since the fall of the Berlin Wall and, ostensibly, the end of the Cold War. In light of this, Rich Hall embarks on an examination of the relationship between the West and the East, America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as part of a BBC4 season commemorating the fall of the Wall. 

In his unique way Rich will look at the propaganda, ignorance, fear and secrecy and the natural offspring of these, paranoia and how a forty year stand off between superpowers brought both the US and Russia to the verge of nuclear war.

This is a 90-minute documentary that doesn’t just look at the Cold War from an American perspective. Rich Hall will delve into the psyche of those living in the Soviet Union, those who took part in the machinations, the plots and the conspiracies and the ordinary citizens who, like Rich lived through this most tense of times.

The Cold War, America's obsession with Communism and the Soviet Union isn’t just about the race to produce the atom bomb and the conquest of space. It’s about spying, political scheming, fear from Communism in Hollywood, in literature and on television.

It was science fiction, it went from the absurd to the ridiculous, it even created incredible sporting drama.

Rich, in his usual style, uses the bizarre, extraordinary and untold stories to weave the narrative threads to give us his take on the Cold War and Americas hysterical obsession with the “Red Menace.”

Rich Hall’s Red Menace (1x60) is an Open Mike Production for the BBC. It was commissioned by Cassian Harrison, Channel Editor BBC Four, and Mark Bell, Commissioning Editor, Arts. The director is Chris Cottam, producer John McCormack and the exec producers are Andrew Beint and Anthony Caveney.

Rich Hall’s Red Menace, 9pm, BBC Four, Tuesday, 5 November.