Not the same by any shot but it’s worth digging out the original Edge of Darkness if you want a powerful fictional take on the nuclear industry gone awry.

Has the same desaturated feel of dread.

The late Bob Peck in his prime.

Incredible TV – caught the last episode last night.

Ghastly, compelling, shocking.

One of my main memories of the disaster as a child was seeing the radiation cloud movement on the news or the weather. That & the 90 second guys on the roof. When they sent in the firefighters in the first episode I was I’m sure they had men on the roof for 90 seconds at a time.

Wondering if there could be a second season, maybe the difficulties in building the sarcophagus…not likely to have the raw impact of the first season but definitely been on my watchlist

I’m sure I’ve watched a documentary about the new one – on something like superstructures on channel 5 or somewhere similar.

I thought five episodes covered it just about right. More would have diluted the impact. It’s not the top rated TV on imdb (ever) for nothing, the team behind the show got just about everything right.

I’m sure I’ve watched a documentary about the new one – on something like superstructures on channel 5 or somewhere similar.

Yeah, ive seen that, very interesting, particularly the way they ‘slid’ the new sarcophagus over the old one 😮

Apparently it was written by the same guy who the Hangover II & III

PrinceJohn

Member
Apparently it was written by the same guy who the Hangover II & III

That makes sense, I thought they had a similar feel.

I thought it was a fantastic piece of gripping tv, best thing I’ve seen in ages.

Looks like the Russians have a different take on the world (msn.com)

Best TV series I’ve seen in a long time. The timeline in the final episode was just heartbreaking seeing how the Soviet machine lead to the failings.
10/10. One to keep on the box forever.

Food for though. (Where’s Jivehoney when you need him?)

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/07/chernobyl-hbo-russian-tv-remake

Where’s Jivehoney when you need him?

Working on the script for the Russian version…..

I read a lot about the incident since 1986 – I was twelve when it happened.

The Soviet system allowed for colossal technological improvements in the space of half a century the country went from being semi-feudal to soft-landing space probes on Venus.

I found this from 1994, it gives a sobering assessment of how much money we paid to help prop up a rapidly decaying nuclear infrastructure. Imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t?

http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-51/POST-PN-51.pdf

Once upon a time, I was very much in favour of nuclear power. Now I’m not so sure – I recently saw a documentary by Jim Al-Khalili on Sellafield and the processes there they use to recycle and entomb the waste – they vitrify it in glass that won’t crack under humidity like concrete or slowly leech out. Fact is, it’ll need careful management for centuries yet.

Then there’s the necessity of access to vast amounts of water in all nuclear plants. What could go wrong?

https://www.nuclearconsult.com/docs/information/climate/ClimatechangeGP.pdf

And sleep well after reading this:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/11/05/national/nuclear-operator-seeks-restart-despite-active-fault-plant/#.XQA1_ohKh3g

Back to Chernobyl, it’s compelling watching and the pace is superb.

Not sure if any of yous have read THIS?

Of course it was over dramatised for effect. Still enjoyed it though.

Russia Today is my go-to source for impartial views on this matter. 🙂

TBH, if the only fault that RT could find was that the old lady’s cow wouldn’t have been shot in front of her, and that he didn’t actually see the miners getting bollock naked, then I guess HBO were pretty much on the money with the things that mattered.

If RT reported that the sun was shining over London today, I’d be sure to bring an umbrella to work.

If RT R4 Today reported that the sun was shining over London today, I’d be sure to bring an umbrella to work.

FTFY

I think this NY Times piece sums it up nicely – bit Hollywood, but still excellent tv.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/arts/television/chernobyl-hbo.html

The Soviet system allowed for colossal technological improvements in the space of half a century

They didn’t do that by being real careful about people and places and stuff, though.

And sleep well after reading this:

Expert says there is a fault line below power plant, survey commissioned to find out, what is the story there?

They didn’t do that by being real careful about people and places and stuff, though.

That was kind of my point – none other than Lavrenty Beria was given the task of delivering the Soviet Union’s first atomic bomb. Beria was undoubtedly one of the 20th century’s biggest shits in a century not short of them to choose from.

Expert says there is a fault line below power plant, survey commissioned to find out, what is the story there?

Best summed up in the following quote from the article:

The company has to show data to disprove the opinions of experts that there is an earthquake risk immediately below the plant.

You’d hope that building a nuclear power station on or near a geological fault line would be an isolated incident…

martinhutch

Subscriber

TBH, if the only fault that RT could find was that the old lady’s cow wouldn’t have been shot in front of her, and that he didn’t actually see the miners getting bollock naked, then I guess HBO were pretty much on the money with the things that mattered.

If those two points are the only things you picked up on in that piece then you had best stick to The Sun and The Daily Mail for your impartial world news.

Beria had to be very carefully talked out of walking into the first Russian Pile whilst it was running as he was certain the scientists were making up what they were doing.   He was not the sort of man that could be “restrained”/argued with, without serious repercussions.  The KGB/NKVD/secret police also had orders to shoot the lead scientists if the first bomb test did not look the same as the American tests!

Apparently it was written by the same guy who the Hangover II & III

And directed by Stakker Bo

If those two points are the only things you picked up on in that piece then you had best stick to The Sun and The Daily Mail for your impartial world news.

Enlighten us – what other points did that RT interview throw up then?

I don’t see anything that isn’t dramatic license being called out by the Russian General there.

Finished this last night and having had a two month break from the Serhii Plokhii book (my daughter had nicked it) I’m going to start reading it again. It really was astonishingly high quality TV. The narrative, the timeline, the character development, the suspense, the horror, the cinematography, the effects, the sinister soundtrack, the use of Russian language and singing, the use of Chernobyl’s twin Ignalina plant. The accents didn’t bother me at all, the duration was perfect and the end summary with footage of the real people was very well done. Legasov’s explanation of the failure with the red and blue boards in and around the events from the control room with Dyatlov, Akimov and Toptunov was a perfect way to explain it to a layman. I would’ve been highly disappointed if that part of the story was glossed over as being too technical ‘big-bangy’.

Absolutely first class.

If those two points are the only things you picked up on in that piece then you had best stick to The Sun and The Daily Mail for your impartial world news.

What are your views on RT coverage of Salisbury tourism? 🙂

https://www.rt.com/news/438350-petrov-boshirov-interview-simonyan/

Seems legit.

🙂

Martinhutch – I agree it was bad; although no worse than the best selling newspaper at that time reporting on the Hillsborough disaster.

That was one of the best things I’ve watched in years..

The Real Chernobyl is on Sky Atlantic now. Don’t think it was in the schedules. Fascinating stuff.

Enjoyed the show but not the implication that Russia was alone in these errors.

Windscale aka Sellafield had an engineer looking down into a reactor fire. The level of disinformation that came out about Fukushima in the days and weeks following the accident was unbelievable.

What implication, when was that made?

It’s nitpicking. The show picks out the extra safety features in Western reactor design, but by this point the sl1, windscale and three mile island accidents had occurred despite them.

I think a more realistic conversation would have highlighted these accidents still occur in spite of more resilient design. A more balanced dramatisation would have picked that up in my view

Wow. Just caught up on the five episodes. 43 years old so remember this being taught as pretty fresh.

How good was that red and blue cards scene in the courtroom? Explained everything beautifully. I do a bit of BI at work but have never seen anything come close to successfully relaying a message. Admittedly what I do does not impact the life and health of millions.

sl1, windscale and three mile island accidents had occurred despite them.

Perhaps the point was, despite those accidents happening (many) years before the Chernobyl incident, the Soviet state continued to go ahead and build and operate the RBMK.

I can recommend the Chernobyl podcast where the writer gives an explanation of each episode, such as what details they included, what was real, what they invented (such as the scientist who actually represented a group of scientists to simplify the narrative)

It also gives an insight into the Soviet mindset at the time, and although you can argue it’s a disaster born of the Soviet system, the people involved in the clean up come across as well intentioned and even heroic in some cases, especially those who knowingly put their welfare on the line.

I’m sure Russia Today weather forecast does make people take umbrellas to work…tipped with some polonium.

This made me chuckle

This climactic Chernobyl scene with audio from the Simpsons’ nuclear contest episode is magnificent

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-07-18/radiation-levels-on-1950s-nuclear-test-site-of-the-marshall-islands-higher-than-chernobyl-and-fukushima-study-shows/

Just finished catching up with this last night and I can only echo what has already been said, absolutely brilliant telly. The fact you know and remember it all happening makes it all the more chilling!

I don’t know what they’ve done with the Fukushima site, but the Chernobyl site has a gigantic protective structure over the most contaminated spot (i.e. the reactor core). If you compared the highest reading anywhere at Chernobyl to the highest reading in the Marshall Islands, it would be orders of magnitude higher.