No, I've only seen the ones he visits the old babushka and her son.
Television Chernobyl (HBO/Sky drama series)
- Thread starter dr.twinny
- Start date
So good 
Shame it was only 5 episodes long.
Shame it was only 5 episodes long.
Was that Roose Bolton at the trial?
Yep. The fourth(?) GoT actor cameo.
Great series.
Fantastic finale, great acting, great writing.. very very well done
It's a joke that the three guys responsible for the disaster, especially Dayatlov got just 10 years hard labor as 'punishment'.
It's a joke that the three guys responsible for the disaster, especially Dayatlov got just 10 years hard labor as 'punishment'.
Watching the last episode tonight. Fascinating stuff. Well written.
Just finished it. Incredible piece of television. The whole story is so unbelievable that they didn’t have to embellish or overly dramatise it. They just told it, with some brilliant acting performances.
It was the maximum possible sentence for gross incompetence that lead to human casualties. And it's debatable that they were actually the ones responsible (I mean that's what the whole series are about). Especially later investigations, not only Soviet ones, but also international, like INSAG, puts more of the responsibility on the reactor's construction and badly written instructions than on Dyatlov & co.
I agree but there was a lot of human error involved, their gross incompetence played a part in death of thousands. And the thing is, most of them didn't even complete their sentences. All three of them were let go when USSR disintegrated in 1991, this spending 3-5 years at most in prison. Although the three of them died very soon, Dayatlov due to radiation exposure and others suffering from health issues and mental problems, I personally don't think justice was served to those who died.
Here's an article about what happened to the three of them after the trial -
https://screenrant.com/chernobyl-trial-dyatlov-fomin-bryukhanov-hbo/amp/
Here's an article about what happened to the three of them after the trial -
https://screenrant.com/chernobyl-trial-dyatlov-fomin-bryukhanov-hbo/amp/
Just watched Episode 1 and was blown away, despite taking time to get over the weirdness of Soviet people speaking English in perfect British accents. Gonna binge.
Do you have to subscribe to HBO or be in the US to watch the series?
Sky Atlantic have it, mate.
Thanks. I don't have Sky, unfortunately.
Even in the compressed version of the final reports and trials that we see in the series, I felt I could understand why Dyatlov and the others saw only limited criminal punishment. They do stupid things, but they don't know how stupid. In the final stages of the disaster Dyatlov is almost cartoonish as a bully - yet based on what we've seen before, we can understand how a man like him gets that kind of responsibility and how he builds up the kind of arrogance he needs to believe he can bluff his way through.
In the end though as he goes to trial I thought the show succeeded in its goal - we know why he was in a position to act as he did and why he keeps going. We also know why from a technical perspective he thought he could get away with it - because if it went wrong they had the ultimate "get out of jail free" card in the shutdown button.
The courts obviously acted from a position of political expediency rather than a sense of fairness, yet if it had been a decision based purely on culpability I still think the show succeeded in explaining why he was just another (inevitable) cog in a chain, not the bad guy.
This was powerful finale. "Let him finish" and the looks on everyone's faces at that very moment. Brilliant.
Watched the first episode so far. I am enjoying. Kind of wish it wasn't done in think British accent though 
"oy my name is Kolisnyk, and I'm a bloody soviet commi, now feck off"
"oy my name is Kolisnyk, and I'm a bloody soviet commi, now feck off"
Just finished the series, thought it was a masterpiece.
Brilliantly portrayed an acted, highlights how disgustingly the Soviets acted about the whole thing but then shows the level of bravery & selflessness of the people sent in.
Brilliantly portrayed an acted, highlights how disgustingly the Soviets acted about the whole thing but then shows the level of bravery & selflessness of the people sent in.
Absolutely brilliant.
Agreed. Fantastic finale.
Series was gripping, horrifying, but brilliantly done.
One of the best miniseries' ever.
One of the best single series of TV I've ever watched. Masterpiece.
Finished it tonight.
Nothing to add to what has already been said.
Magnificent. Terrifying. Humbling.
The bravery shown by those people was incredible.
Nothing to add to what has already been said.
Magnificent. Terrifying. Humbling.
The bravery shown by those people was incredible.
Rarely you find such unified praises for a work of art based on true events or not...
Deserves every plaudit it's getting. Perfect tv.
People have said masterpiece, and they are not wrong. This is the single best piece of television I have ever seen it is just breathtakingly brilliant. I’m speechless.
Are you not allowed to watch TV by yourself?Oh man. That could be a deal breaker
The director explained why he made that decision. He wanted the actors to focus on there performances not accents. There have been films in Russian about the disaster made, I thought it was unusual too but you can see more focus in my opinion.Watched the first episode so far. I am enjoying. Kind of wish it wasn't done in think British accent though
"oy my name is Kolisnyk, and I'm a bloody soviet commi, now feck off"
No. That’s banned in my house.Are you not allowed to watch TV by yourself?
Just watch the damn thing, it's incredible.
Said this to my girlfriend, she said that's some statement! But its true.
I am, of course, joking. I watch tonnes of telly on my own. I just like finding an occasional series we can watch together. Gonna give this a crack tonight. See how it goes.
Amazing. Really great piece of tv and with the added knowledge that it can't be tainted by inferior follow on seasons. I was kind of worried the final episode might be a let down after all that had gone before it but the whole trial was so well done, and inter-cutting with a replay of the run up to the explosion just made it edge of the seat stuff. I had been slightly miffed that in episode 1 the explosion was just seen in the distance but the pay off here was worth it completely.
I can't watch it. I remember it. There were pockets, places in the hills in ireland which were deeply contaminated, the sheep were affected. I remember accounts of the kamikaze firemen on the ashphalt roof, their boots melting. One guy carried his mate down the stairs, the imprint of the radiated body was left on his skin, like some kind of Shroud of Turin. It's horror, not entertainment.
There's very little entertaining about the show, it doesn't try to make the subject matter entertaining, but it is gripping. It's extremely uncomfortable to watch throughout and does an excellent job of portraying how horrifying what happened was.
The retelling of the mistakes was the highlight of the series for me. Absolute must watch tv.
It's not entertaining in that sense.
What you're really watching is something that most people would never watch - more or less a 5 hour documentary on Chernobyl. It's telling you a human story of horror and heroism, and it's combining it with a clear insight into the technical (from the physics through the medical to the mechanics of the initial clear up) and the political. The fact it manages to deliver it as drama about people is what makes it exceptional.
There's a strong cautionary tale in there about what authoritarism, and blind loyalty/fear/self-interest can do to people - that works whether you look at is warning about blind loyalty to a state or even to a business. There's also a story about self-sacrifice and people's individual desires to do the right thing, and ultimately to do things that they know will harm them and maybe even kill them, for the good of others.
They used fragments from Svetlana Alexievich's work for various characters and storylines, one example is the firefighter and his pregnant wife. I'm really happy with that because her work deserves the highest amount of attention possible.
Anyone who liked this should try and read 'Voices from Chernobyl', or maybe start with 'The unwomanly face of war' which is about the million Soviet women who served in WWII and still to this day barely get any credit or recognition for their suffering, neither over there or in the Western world. Certain parts of her work are at least 5 times more powerful than this series, which already was pretty intense on itself at times.
Personally I have some pretty strong reservations about certain elements and aspects of this show, pointing them out will get boring way too quickly. Ultimateliy I think it should be judged in the context of what it is, which is a HBO Drama miniseries and it's so well made that I would give it a nine of ten regardless.
Anyone who liked this should try and read 'Voices from Chernobyl', or maybe start with 'The unwomanly face of war' which is about the million Soviet women who served in WWII and still to this day barely get any credit or recognition for their suffering, neither over there or in the Western world. Certain parts of her work are at least 5 times more powerful than this series, which already was pretty intense on itself at times.
Personally I have some pretty strong reservations about certain elements and aspects of this show, pointing them out will get boring way too quickly. Ultimateliy I think it should be judged in the context of what it is, which is a HBO Drama miniseries and it's so well made that I would give it a nine of ten regardless.
I read an excerpt from that this morning and to say some of it was horrific would be an understatement.
https://www.npr.org/2006/04/21/5355...ivors-stories?t=1559722349037&t=1559726417811