What happens if the lights go out? Channel 4 drama Blackout imagines a post cyber-attack Britain

Police officers make their way down a blackened street after a blackout in Croydon, 8 August 2011 (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A new drama will use mobile phone footage and amateur actors to show what might happen if the lights went out in Britain.

The Channel 4 show, called Blackout, will examine the effects of a devastating cyber-attack on the national grid.

It follows events over five days after a nationwide power cut, showing how the general public, the police and hospitals try to deal with it, and mixes scenes shot on phones and camcorders with footage recorded during actual power cuts and other emergencies.

Director Ben Chanan said: "I'm delighted Channel 4 have commissioned such a bold and experimental programme, cross-cutting actors with video bloggers, shooting drama on mobiles, taking an anarchic approach to filming Britain in anarchy."

The show will be broadcast in September.

Nick Mirsky, Channel 4's deputy head of Factual, said: "This is completely new and innovative way to dramatise our total dependence on electricity by asking what would happen if Britain were to be plunged into darkness - not for a few hours, but for five days."

PA