Chernobyl (2019)

Chernobyl (2019) is a tense, unflinching historical drama-thriller that recreates the April 26, 1986 reactor explosion and its aftermath. Following lead scientist Valery Legasov, Soviet official Boris Shcherbina, and the determined nuclear physicist Ulana Khomyuk, the miniseries traces the immediate struggle to contain the fire, the human cost of radiation exposure, and the official attempts to hide the truth. Viewers will experience a bleak, immersive reconstruction of the disaster: feverish emergency response, claustrophobic hearings, and haunting images of ruined towns and exhausted first responders. The show is spare and methodical in tone—tense, often heartbreaking, and infuriating in its portrayal of bureaucracy and denial. Performances are gripping and the storytelling balances technical detail with human stories, making the science and politics understandable without losing emotional impact. Expect to come away shaken and moved, with a clearer sense of the catastrophe’s scale, the bravery of those who mitigated it, and the catastrophic cost of misinformation and secrecy. Content warning: depicts radiation sickness, death, and disturbing disaster imagery.

Actors: Jessie Buckley, Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård

Genres: Drama, History, Thriller

9.3 /10 9.3 /10