Chernobyl - 2019 Sky Atlantic Drama

Brilliant production and cast. Probably as close to the real thing as you could show on the telly. Makes you wonder just how bad it really was and how much we will never know......

I am a child of the seventies and as such was a teenager at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. At the time we were in the midst of the Cold War and information from the USSR was not forthcoming. It was a worrying time as the information from our government was also sketchy. I can remember being warned not to eat Welsh lamb any more for fear of the consequences of nuclear fallout. When this mini-series was promoted on Amazon Prime it grabbed my attention and I made the effort to watch. The story is well told and contains lots of technical, social and political detail while the acting is impressive throughout. I watched the series avidly and was happy to tell friends and family about it and recommend watching it. We bought the DVD for my father-in-law as he was intrigued but didn't have an Amazon Prime subscription. He was also bowled over by the series and enjoyed watching it. I can thoroughly recommend watching.

Every now and then, a TV show comes along, that just takes your breath away. From start to finish, this a flawless masterpiece. It really is, and I beg anybody who is reading this and other reviews to believe the hype on this one. And look at the reviews!! The acting is first rate, and the performances, especially Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard are magnificent. The screenplay is realistic, detailed yet easy for a someone unfamiliar with Nuclear terminologyto understand. The period design and sets from that Cold War era are the best i have seen since the Lives of Others. And finally, a real shout for the fantastic score. Absolutely haunting and so on point. In closing, this was by some distance the finest piece of TV last year, and just maybe the best of at least the last decade. I truly can't think of any other TV series that is as Flawless as this. Absolute Masterpiece.

One of the best TV dramas of recent years, magnificently acted by a great team - it's invidious to pick any particular one out, but I suppose maximum plaudits have to go to Jared Harris, who brings to life a woeful, sometimes desperate, precise and exacting rendition for screen of what could easily have been just a boring engineer/scientist role. Visually stunning and often very shocking and hard to take, the production demonstrates both the full awfulness of the disaster and the extraordinary, gritty heroism and determination of the many ordinary men and women technicians, rescue workers, scientists, engineers, miners and soldiers who fought to recover from what could have been horribly worse. The elevated tone of the films throughout, only sparingly leavened with barbed jokes at the expense of the awful Soviet bureaucracy and the black humour of those struggling against the impossible, keeps this as both a saga of human struggle and also a deep meditation on the limitations of human beings faced with gigantically complex modern technology when it goes badly, badly wrong. Really quite brilliant and HBO and the cast deserve every award they are going to get for this and more.

Without a doubt one of the greatest mini series ever made and having just received my copy of this incredible series on Bluray at last here is what I have found. This is not the best Hi-Def transfer I would have expected but when reading into the technical specs on how the series was filmed this is exactly how the filmmakers wanted you to see this mini series,you get a real sense that you are watching a show that was filmed when the accident happened,the picture is not brilliant with striking colours but given a very dull look in fact one would even think you may be watching a VHS tape of the show in some cases but it simply adds to the overall power that this mini series provides. The sound mixes are P.C.M Stereo 2.0 and DTS 5.1,I much prefer the DTS mix as with the first episode your room will shudder and your sub will get a real workout as the exploded core releases it deadly radiation,the surround channels get a good workout with vocals well centred and the music that supports this series simply sounds magnificent. I understand why this series has not been released in 4K UHD as I doubt it would add anything more than you already get in the bluray feature,the extras are almost nil but then again its the story you are watching and this is indeed one of the finest mini series ever made.

Well worth the wait to get this on dvd as we don't have sky. Brilliantly written and acted.It was one of the best dramas I've seen in a long long time. Gripping viewing all the way through and very true to the facts (with just a little extra dramatisation in places). In some places it was hard to watch but the story has to be told. The lies and cover ups at the time were shocking and quite frightening. Even though it happened 34 years ago, watching this is very humbling, and it should make us all thankful,more appreciative and kind. Every one of those people involved who gave their lives are true heroes and we should never forget that. Our world would have been a very different place.

My review score isn't for the show itself it is for the whole package (show and blu-ray). A lot of reviews are just for the show itself so here is my opinion. The show is outstanding so if you haven't seen it and are looking to purchase this to view it for the first time.. you won't be selling this blu-ray to cash generator for 50p thats for sure! The blu-ray is a standard blu-ray case with two discs inside. The picture is HD and as it was broadcast in HD on TV. I don't think you will want it any sharper I have a 4k TV and the picture is fantastic. Don't buy the DVD if you have a HD or 4K TV as the skin tones and film grain and other effects like falling ash etc will not look as intended. This series has serious attention to detail so you want to see it as clear as possible. The blu-ray picture is exactly as it was when it was shown so good job there. The box art however is totally different to the promotional material or poster or images used to promote the series to the point I had to double check that this wasnt one of those other documentaries about chernobyl. This series DESERVES a steelbook with that haunting grey poster with them decontaminating and cleansing the area and perhaps this picture in the back. Or a sleeve of the original art with this underneath. This new cover art gives it more of a horror type feel to it for those who havent seen it and this series isn't a horror. It is horrific but not like the cover is suggesting compared to the original artwork. But this is just a niggle. I'm just used to the original artwork and liked that one. Special Features... Now this is a series that really should have at the very least a directors commentary. In the HBO version that was aired they had clips of the makers of the show talking about the next episode etc. On youtube there are interviews and trailers and all kinds of things. I would have hoped that with 2 discs they would have had SOMETHING in the form of special features. Do you know what they consider a special feature?? SUBTITLES!! I am not joking. Subtitles are right there in the special features along with.. photo gallery... So pretty much the images you see here on amazon of the cast etc...subtitles and that's all folks! For a release that will be streamed the incentive to buy the blu-ray should be filled with special features because these things have already been shown why not include them here. The directors commentary may have pushed the release of this back a bit but would have been so worth it in my opinion. this is the only reason that I have given it one star less. as a whole it just missed the opportunity to be a perfect blu ray release but instead they just put the series on disc and called subtitles a special feature. If this is the future for blu-ray then this is very sad and i hope they release this as a special edition 3 disc (or even 5 disc) set with special features and commentary. Anyways jusy buy this if you want to own a piece of TV history. When the internet goes down or something you have to own the movies you like in physical format and a such you must own this televisual marvel. bravo to the makers and actors of this series. my heart is heavy for those who dealt with the real life disaster that is chernobyl and i feel that i have been ignorant to it through the years thinking it would be cool to visit the place or seeing people duke it out on a map in call of duty. the way the tale is told in this is so masterfully done that it makes you just hang your head in shame to be a human being. powerful stuff.

Excellent series