Timewatch: Killer Cloud

Dark Clouds

Northern shock

In 1783, toxic gases and sulphuric acid aersols drifted across Britain. Are we still at risk from Icelandic eruptions?

An eruption in Iceland would have terrible effects for the rest of Western Europe

Documentary about an environmental disaster of 1783 which killed thousands of Britons. Victims of a huge volcanic eruption in Iceland, they choked on the poisonous gases that enveloped Europe.

The ensuing winter was one of the worst on record and took countless more lives.

The tragedy wrought by the Laki eruption is well documented in Iceland but its impact on Britain has remained a mystery for the past 200 years. Timewatch goes in search of the evidence of Britain's forgotten disaster

Content last updated: 03/06/2008