Susan Davis

Five of the 14 subjects filmmaker Michael Apted has followed since they were 7 years old are featured in this long-running documentary series.

A teenager, bored by traditional high school subjects like biology but fascinated by computers, accidentally taps into the Pentagon's top-secret computer...the USA's NORAD system. He starts what he innocently believes is a computer game called "Global Thermonuclear War," but the "game" is real. The Pentagon's best minds cannot shut down or reprogram the supercomputer that is readying a missile attack against the USSR, and thereby unleash Armageddon. The teen and his girlfriend attempt to aid the helpless Pentagon and, in a frantic race against a ticking "doomsday clock," try to persuade the computer to end the "game."

A young computer whiz kid hacks into a government supercomputer and starts a game called "global thermonuclear war"...but the game is real. It's then a race against time to convince the computer that "the only way to win is not to play."

A young computer whiz kid hacks into a government supercomputer and starts a game called "global thermonuclear war"...but the game is real. It's then a race against time to convince the computer that "the only way to win is not to play."