Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jared Harris | ... | Valery Legasov | |
Michael Shaeffer | ... | Blond Man | |
Jessie Buckley | ... | Lyudmilla Ignatenko | |
Adam Nagaitis | ... | Vasily Ignatenko | |
Paul Ritter | ... | Anatoly Dyatlov | |
Sam Troughton | ... | Alexandr Akimov | |
Joshua Leese | ... | Kirschenbaum | |
Robert Emms | ... | Leonid Toptunov | |
Adam Lundgren | ... | Brazhnik | |
Karl Davies | ... | Viktor Proskuryakov | |
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Paulius Markevicius | ... | Aleksandr Kudryavtsev |
Jay Simpson | ... | Perevozchenko | |
Billy Postlethwaite | ... | Boris Stolyarchuk | |
Ross Armstrong | ... | Nikolai Gorbachenko | |
Douggie McMeekin | ... | Yuvchenko |
While nuclear physics professor Valery Legasov hides evidence of what really happened, expecting to die soon and as scapegoat for the world's worst nuclear disaster that contributed to the demise of Soviet Union, he recalls the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster. The under-qualified night shift in the Ukrainian reactor control room is incapable of rasping, let alone controlling the nuclear reactions getting completely out of control. No timely warnings are given until the uranium rods escalate an unstoppable meltdown. Party officials pigheadedly keep pretending it's just a building fire, so time is wasted and people are contaminated before the horrible radiation symptoms became impossible to ignore and Moscow has to learn the truth. The KGB vice director is assigned by Gorbachov to handle it with outspoken expert Legasov as imposed counsel, whim he would prefer to dispose of but finds crucially, albeit inconveniently, knowledgeable. The rest of the world is kept ignorant, but ... Written by KGF Vissers
This is not TV remember, it's HBO!! That being said if you know HBO'S track record on historically based miniseries like Band of Brothers, The Pacific, The Corner etc. This very accurate pilot episode for the newest HBO miniseries really had me interested after seeing a short trailer for Chernobyl which if you don't know it was a nuclear power plant that had a very tragic incident back in 1986 Ukraine, as I said I'm speechless after this episode and really would like to watch it over again. LIKE NOW! You can Google Chernobyl if you're interested in the history but I'd recommend watching this 1st either way it won't effect how you like or dislike it, after the first 15 minutes into this episode I was sold big time! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 10/10!!