Sky will adapt the scariest, most chilling podcast of 2025 into a new immersive documentary series - and completely change your fears about 'World War Three'

Sky prepares to adapt its 2025 political podcast The war game as a new ‘immersive’ documentary series of the same name
UK politicians including Michael Gove, Nicola Sturgeon and Penny Mordaunt will form a mock government cabinet facing the threat of war from Russia.
Coming to Sky and NOW TV in September 2026

Sky has announced plans to adapt its hit political podcast from 2025 The war game as an “immersive” documentary service coming to both the streamer and NOW TV in September 2026.

The premise will remain the same across four 60-minute episodes, which “take viewers beyond the news cycle and behind closed doors into a sealed COBR-style crisis room where senior politicians, military leaders and real-world intelligence chiefs are challenged to confront a high-risk scenario: a Russian attack on UK soil.”

The war game is set six months in the future and has been developed alongside leading academics, military and defense experts to replicate the pressure of political decision-making at the highest level.

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A fake government cabinet sitting around a conference table

(Image credit: Cielo)

Although the podcast ran over five episodes instead of four, we can expect the breakdown of The war game follow the same format.

Episode 1 sets the scene, with a series of seemingly unrelated attacks and problems across the UK potentially orchestrated by Russian intelligence. In episode 2, Russia launches its first large-scale attack, and the Prime Minister has to address the nation in a time of unprecedented crisis in episode 3.

Episode 4 is when the UK defense starts to fight back, but is losing. All of this culminates in the negotiation of a possible ceasefire in episode 5, which, as expected, is not too simple.

If this premise sounds horrible, that’s because it is. When the podcast first launched on Spotify, Apple, and other services, I made everyone I knew listen to it. Because? It addresses a reality that no one in the current government wants to freely admit: the UK’s defense system is almost non-existent.

The war game concludes that the United Kingdom is susceptible to almost every type of combative attack possible and would most likely be defeated (or at least left in a very worrying state). It fosters a greater sense of awareness among all of us and will hopefully lead to some critical conversations.

If you’re wondering why a podcast would openly admit a country’s lack of protection to an international audience, The war gameRussia’s slogan answers that: “Russia knows our weaknesses, but do you know them?”

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