Countdown to Looking Glass is a Canadian made-for-television movie that premiered in the United States on HBO on October 14,
1984 and was also broadcast on CTV in Canada. The movie presents a fictional confrontation between the United States and the
Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The narrative of the film details the events that
lead up to the initial exchange of nuclear weapons, which was triggered by a banking crisis, from the perspective of an
ongoing news broadcast.
Unlike similar productions such as the previous year's Special Bulletin and the later Without Warning, the producers of this
film decided not to make the entire production a simulated newscast, but instead break up the news portions with dramatic
narrative scenes involving characters played by Helen Shaver and Michael Murphy. The appearance of real-life newscasters, as
well as noted CBC Television host Patrick Watson (although he does not appear as himself in this film) lent additional
authenticity to the production.
