We live in uncertain times.
– At a minimum,
I want them to think maybe
we would use it.
With global tensions escalating
and faith in the establishment being eroded,
increasing numbers of people are turning to self-sufficiency,
as a kind of insurance against disaster.
– You never know what's going to happen.
– You've got to go and get water,
you've got to go and get food,
you've got to go and get firewood.
– That training is key.
These people are labelled 'preppers',
a term loaded with baggage
thanks to the extreme stereotype
imported from the US
and enhanced by the media.
– Somebody get some help over here!
In the States, Silicon Valley billionaires
– people who have made their money forecasting the future
– are buying up luxury bunkers
in preparation for the apocalypse.
We have bunkers in the UK as well.
One of them is situated in a farmer's field near Brechin,
rented for one pound a year by Jim
Sherrit.
Jim!
– Hello!
Good to meet you. Can we come in?
'Course you can.
Great.
This is metre-thick, reinforced concrete roof,
walls and floor underneath reinforced concrete,
with a bitumen seal and then a brick base
on the outside.
These were designed to withstand a nuclear blast.
And it will still work today?
It would still work today.
Better protection than what
most of the people in the village would get.
– Whistle blows
When you talk about cold war and nuclear bombs,
especially with the younger generation,
and you start telling them how you were preparing
for it,
they don't believe you.
And I think a lot of people didn't want to know
about what happens when things go boom.
Nuclear war is a possibility most people prefer not to contemplate.
But this is not an option
available to emergency planners.
When the bomb goes off, the airwave comes through,
shoots right down through here,
and would register on here how powerful the blast is.
If that goes up to there, you panic.
Hostage! Papa one!
Hostage, papa one.
What would happen to this outpost?
You'd have a three man crew down here
for 21 days minimum,
to record and sound the alarms.
So if you're going above ground you've got
to go all suited up.
When I started restoring this, people would
say,
'You're daft, you're restoring a nuclear bunker!'
Then you had Brexit, then you had
Trump,
and now you're getting questions like,
'So, what's prepping all about?'
You say, well, prepping is a bit like life insurance.
It's something we all have, but we don't want
to cash in.
Jim, do you have a family?
Five kids.
You've got five kids, it's a three-man outpost.
Who comes down?
We all come down.
Anyone else?
No, me, the wife, five kids.
I think that will be crammed enough as it is.
Where do you go to the toilet?
We've got a toilet.
Really?
That's your toilet in there.
Basically a bucket with a lid on it.
You'd certainly need the toilet when the bombs start flying.
Do you have enough faith in the government
and society
that after 21 days you go up above ground
and there's something there waiting
for you?
I think there'll be something waiting for
us.
But what remains to be seen.
Do you just come back down and pull the hatch down,
or do you climb out and march on to some place
where people have all gathered?
How long do you think it would take before
society breaks down,
before people start ... so it's medieval?
So people are running about, in gangs, doing bad stuff.
Primal Bushcraft run this 'Urban Survival
and Prepping Skills' course
from a country park outside Edinburgh.
Course leader Matt
Smith has noticed an increased interest
in people wanting to learn survival techniques.
People in cities, large towns and urban environments
– if something happened and everyone knew
they had a stash of food, a stash of water,
medical supplies or whatever,
guess where they're going? They're coming to your house.
But when you talk about things like societal
breakdown
and that sort of thing,
people would say,
'This is kind of scaremongering, this
isn't going to happen.
Why are you flogging this one?'
If people are scared then let's give them
the experience and training
to help save and preserve life if something should happen.
But also if they're worried about it,
once you've given them the training, they go,
'Do you know what? Actually I feel better.
I've mitigated that fear a bit.'
What do you most want to find out that you
don't know already?
I just want to make sure that the knowledge I have
I can apply in the real world.
Yeah.
Hopefully for pleasure, not for survival.
You can use it as an adhesive,
or like put
it over a cut to keep it sealed.
Have you had an interest in this sort of thing
for a long time?
Yeah.
Really? Where do you think that stems from?
Dislike of people.
Is it really?
Yeah.
What happens if one day something bad happens?
I just wouldn't know what to do and it's just
great actually to pick up some skills.
Especially, I think, as a woman, don't you think?
It's sort of ... you have to rely on yourself.
Johnny, what's happened?
Erm, I've cut my arm off. [laughs]
They're not expecting this, are they?
No.
Go on, give us a squirt ...
I sort of feel
a bit ill, to be honest.
Honestly?
Good luck, Johnny.
Thank you very much.
See you in a bit.
Basically, when it all goes Pete Tong,
and there's no emergency services,
emergency services look after themselves first.
What do they go away with after speaking to
you?
Confidence.
Help! Help! Somebody get some help over here!
– Help me! Somebody help me! Aargh!
– Keep it on, keep it on.
All right, mate?
You're going to be all right, don't worry about it.
Get you a nice brew when you're done. You'll be fine, all right?
He's got a vein coming down here, it's going
to hit the bone ...
You're never going to have nurses, vets, doctors
at hand.
It's going to be Joe Bloggs with
the limited bit of skills he's got.
Will this stain clothing?
– Yeah. But you know what?
It's fine.
– Shit happens.
How did that go, do you think?
Went well, aye.
What we're trying to catch
is the initial [shock].
But somebody's got to take charge.
Job done.
– Job done, mate.
High five!
– Yeah. [laughs]
For most people, disappearing into the woods
is very much a worst-case scenario.
But if Britain was struck by a viral pandemic,
you may need to survive for up to three months
without leaving the house.
Prepper Jay Olliver is confident he can do just that.
Oh wow.
OK, so this is part of the supplies that we
have here.
Fantastic. There's quite a good range of stuff here.
You're going to eat well, right?
Do your neighbours know that you do this?
Chances are you're not going to have a conversation
about prepping with your neighbour.
The world comes into sheep, sheep dogs and wolves.
Wolves – one set of people that will take advantage
and target sheep.
And then you have people like emergency services, soldiers,
private security contractors, stuff like that,
that are the sheep dogs.
These are the people with the skills and the ability
to be able to stand up and try and defend themselves
and other people.
To be able to find those like-minded
people
can be quite difficult if you don't
have that central hub of people to go to.
You've got some pretty slick branding.
Yes. It is very key for us to be able to have
a professional image online.
We do regular live streams
– and there we are, we're live.
Oh great, we've got a viewer. Hello.
I don't know who that is yet.
Oh, it really is going on isn't it?
Yeah, yeah. Carl's saying, 'The media portrays us as idiots,
as tinfoil-hat-wearing, bunker
in the back garden'.
Yeah, absolutely.
I've told you, we don't talk about the bunkers.
Robert, have you got a question for us?
Probably for Jay, rather than me,
but do send in a question.
I'd be quite good at this, wouldn't I?
Hey James! 'The media can be quite unfair,
I don't prep for zombies or anything like that,
I like to be prepared for other things
that may commonly happen.'
Such as James?
What ... 'Car accidents, job loss, flooding.'
'I joined because you are family-orientated
and don't make me feel alone in my prepping.'
That's one of the things that I think is key about this,
is people like a sense of belonging to a group
that kind of understand and can share
ideas and stuff like that.
If I was in my hometown
and I didn't have this,
I potentially wouldn't know anybody else that was doing it.
We're pack animals, after all.
That's it.
And the idea with this is that
we're trying to find like-minded people.
But we're not wolves.
Not wolves.
In the event of a global disaster,
a gas mask, water filter and tomahawk
may be of limited use.
– That wasn't meant to do that, was it?
But as an antidote to creeping complacency,
Brought on by the convenience of modern life ...
Sorry.
The prepper's mentality is perhaps something
to be celebrated.
