Drama TV series set within the realm of historical accuracy will always be a bit more enthralling than a completely made-up world. That’s because the anxiety, tension, and fear that are portrayed in the series feel rooted in real life. Audiences can see that this is something that can happen, making it a bit chillier to wrap their heads around.
Historical epics have become a popular tool for limited series over the past 10–15 years. Options like The Terror, The Crown, and Boardwalk Empire have taken real events and put an entertaining lens on them while mainly sticking to the facts. But one of the most decorated, award-winning limited series in recent years has also been lauded for its historical accuracy. HBO’s Chernobyl takes a look at one of the worst disasters in human history with piercing correctness.
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Whether you want to laugh, cry, or get scared out of your mind, these shows will get it done, and it doesn’t matter if you start from the beginning.
Chernobyl shines light on a disaster
The series is a crisp five episodes long
Chernobyl premiered on May 6, 2019, on HBO. The series takes place in 1986 and revolves around the events when Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded in the Soviet Union and devastated the surrounding area. The historical drama was created by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck.
It was met with immediate critical acclaim and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series, while Mazin won for Outstanding Writing and Renck won for Outstanding Directing.
Chernobyl stars Jared Harris as Valery Legasov, a chemist and the deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute, who is brought in to help advise the government on how to clean up the area after the disaster. Stellan Skarsgård plays Boris Shcherbina, the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers, a top government official tasked with figuring out how to deal with the aftermath. Emily Watson is the other main character in the series, as she plays a nuclear physicist, Ulana Khomyuk, who advises Legasov and Shcherbina.
The series also features Jessie Buckley, Paul Ritter, Adam Nagaitis, Con O’Neill, Sam Troughton, Adrian Rawlins, Barry Keoghan, Michael McElhatton, Robert Emms, and more.
What makes this series so special is the fear depicted. There was a seismic change for the people in the story and they had to figure out how to handle something that had never happened before. The series goes out of its way to portray the events in as realistic of a light as possible.
The series takes its time and gets the history right
It was worth the years of waiting
Mazin began doing research for the series in 2014, reading eyewitness accounts of the events as well as Russian government reports about it. He based much of the scripts for the series on the book Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, which was put together by discussing the events with locals of Pripyat.
What sets Chernobyl apart from other series, besides being a taut five episodes that you can finish in one night, is how much it focuses on the people who were tasked with dealing with the disaster. The series could have focused entirely on how the explosion happened. The first episode does show the reason for it occurring and portrays the moments in painstaking detail and dread. It could also have dealt with the government response and the trials that occurred after, which is does cover later on.
But it instead tells the story through the eyes of Legasov as he struggles to get Shcherbina to understand the science behind what is actually happening, as well as the workers who were tasked with stopping the core from melting down and causing even wider spread damage. This takes the time to set up minor characters’ arcs to show the sacrifices that they had to make in short amounts of time.
The first responders and the subsequent forces who came in to help those in the surrounding towns are the highlight of the series. It always plays back through Legasov, Khomyuk, and Shcherbina and their plan to save the entire country and region from a more terrible fate. But the audience gets to know the everyday people who went to work in the cleanup.
Arguably, the best part of the entire series is its focus on the miners who were tasked with digging beneath the core. These men were knowingly going to be subjecting themselves to radiation far greater than almost anything any other human had willingly done and they did so to save others.
The series sticks with you long after it’s over
It’s about as realistic as it gets
Credit: HBO
While the series took some creative liberties to play up some of the storylines more than others, the realism is felt throughout each episode. The atmosphere that Mazin and Renck create is what is widely remembered by audiences, as the tension and dread are felt through the screen. The location scouts deserve credit too, as Lithuania serves as a great alternative to the still mostly uninhabitable Ukrainian area.
There are graphic depictions of what happens when someone is experiencing radiation poisoning, which medical professionals agree upon as an accurate portrayal. There are memorable scenes throughout, including courtroom drama, chilling medical diagnoses, and familial situations.
One of the most harrowing scenes is based on the true events of three liquidator workers who volunteer to enter the tunnels and turn on drainage valves. Renck’s direction during this scene is particularly memorable, as the workers descend into the pitch black to do a job no one else dreamed of.
The heaviness and gravity of the situation that the people of the area are facing is never lost on the stars, who come together to try and save lives. Chernobyl highlights heroism, rash decisions, shameful conversations, and real-life terror all behind a dark and dreary Soviet sky.
HBO has many historical limited series in its library
If the bleakness of Chernobyl isn’t something that you think you can stomach, or you need a break after you’ve made it through the tough series, HBO has plenty of options for you to choose from that are deemed historically accurate. John Adams, the Paul Giamatti-led miniseries, has been lauded for its accuracy. Band of Brothers is one of the most revered series of all time. If you want to go way back in time, Rome is another good option for history buffs. All of these are meant as entertainment at the end of the day. But that doesn’t mean you might not learn something.
Release Date
2019 – 2019
Network
HBO
Showrunner
Craig Mazin
Jared Harris
Valery Legasov
Stellan Skarsgård
Boris Shcherbina
Emily Watson
Ulana Khomyuk
Paul Ritter
Anatoly Dyatlov
