In this scenario, a volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma triggers a massive landslide wherein a sizable portion of the island collapses into the sea, causing a massive mega-tsunami to race across the Atlantic ocean and strike the east coast of the United States, inundating most of New York City, but leaving many buildings intact.
This scenario begins with a mysterious missile attack in a remote area somewhere in the Middle East. The missiles are soon revealed to be small asteroid fragments, the advance guard of a much larger asteroid on a collision course with Earth, threatening Berlin, Germany. The asteroid is located and an attempt is made to alter its course using nuclear ICBMs. The attempt fails, resulting in the asteroid being broken into hundreds of smaller pieces with the biggest piece then impacting and obliterating Berlin.
In this scenario, a mysterious virus similar to SARS or influenza is unleashed, wreaking havoc as it spreads at a phenomenal rate throughout Europe, the UK, and North America, prompting many countries to enact martial law and close their borders in a frantic attempt to quarantine the spread of the disease, but are unsuccessful.
This scenario is based on the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park erupting, incinerating everything within 100 km and releasing ash into the atmosphere which cools the earth. This segment has only aired in the UK. This scenario was explored in depth in another BBC docudrama, Supervolcano.
This is the only scenario in which Dr. Howell reaches his laboratory unhindered, with people protesting, and shouting,"STOP THE EXPERIMENT!" outside. Upon arrival, he and his colleagues initiate a highly controversial experiment using the world's largest particle accelerator. The experiment quickly goes out of control, resulting in the creation of a new type of matter called a strangelet, which begins to consume and destroy all matter around it, starting with New York City. The phenomenon wreaks havoc on Earth's weather systems and atmosphere, and eventually leads to Earth's off-screen destruction.