You’ve likely heard about Chernobyl, the five-part miniseries examining the events of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and if you have you’ve likely heard that its really good. It is currently the highest rated TV show of all time in IMDb, with Episode 5 sitting on a perfect 10.0 score. This review will not contradict any of that and will provide a spoiler-free summary of what I liked about the show and why I would highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it already.
Firstly, I went into the series from the position of not knowing that much about the disaster itself. I knew some details, but nothing about the people involved and little about the efforts to prevent further disaster after the explosion itself. This series solves all questions you would have: why did it happen? who was involved? how was it contained? what were the consequences? It presents the answers to all these questions in a way which is both interesting and deeply compelling. The show’s tag line is ‘What is the cost of lies?’ which perfectly sums up the themes of the show.
One reason the show is so successful is the excellent performances. The three key roles are filled by Jared Harris, Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard, all of whom are fantastic and the relationships between these three characters are really well explored and fleshed out. As well as that there are some amazing supporting performances from the likes of Jessie Buckley (who I have praised before on this blog), Paul Ritter and pretty much everyone else involved.
Another surprising element to the show is the creator Craig Mazin’s previous work includes the likes of Identity Thief and two Scary Movie films, none of which were critically praised and yet in Chernobyl he has managed to create something which has been critically praised and popular with audiences. So, hats off to him.
The final element I will praise is the make-up team, who did a fantastic job in recreating the horrific injuries sustained by radiation poisoning. In the third episode, you see first hand the horrendous injuries sustained by these men, who were only doing their job and it is hard to watch, but very convincing so hat’s off to them. I should warn to that Episode 4 is also hard to watch if you are an animal lover (as I am).
Overall, I highly recommend Chernobyl as an excellent piece of television which is both compelling and informative. I probably wouldn’t personally rate it as my favourite series of all time, but it is very good and certainly worth a watch. 5 Stars.
Movie Night 