Chernobyl

[NannaNoodleman]

Bloody hell! We've just watched episode 1. That was intense.

I'm a bit shocked.

@Pootle40 we did!!! By eck he's put some timber on though hasn't he!

I'm also sure I saw Ralph whatsisface. Can't remember his surname for the life of me. Yorkshire actor, was in a few Kay mellor programmes.

We started watching this week and are absolutely hooked!

The disaster happened before DH and I were born but we had read/seen various things about the actual incident and the evacuation of Pripyat but I had no idea about the union attempting to cover up or the devastating impact it had on the first responders.

This show is startling but gripping. I usually cry at everything but have managed to hold it together because I've been so caught up in what's going on.

Agree with PP, one of the things that struck me was how the first responders drawn out deaths but I guess there was nothing they could do to ease or stop it.

I came across a story in my gory fact days at school, about a Japanese man who received the highest dose of radiation poisoning known in 1997 and he was kept alive for something like 90 days despite begging to be "let go". I never really understood why they couldn't just end it for him (I know, euthanasia is illegal but these were extreme circumstances!) but when Prof Legasov explained how the radiation breaks down the tissue I realised that a humane method wouldn't be possible. It's a horrific thought

cricketmum that genuinely doesn’t surprise me that people think it’s fictional Considering my sister, a 29yo, working mother didn’t know the other day who our prime minister is - lack of knowledge on huge historical events like this doesn’t surprise me unfortunately

FannyFeatures That had me a bit confused too.
The Soviet Union weren’t exactly know for their humane treatment of their citizens were they? And surely a swift bullet to the head would have been kinder to the victims in that situation, and would have prevented the plant workers from revealing the ins and outs of what actually happened so would have aided heir efforts at a cover-up!
But instead they let them die an excruciatingly painful, slow death

@Pootle40 I was going mad trying to find out who he was, IMDB wasn't helping and I knew I knew his voice from somewhere.

I actually warned my DSis before she watched it because it was distracting me a bit whenever he was on screen.

I've found some of the actors distracting too, Dyatlov in particular! It seems bizarre to see Paul Ritter being serious and wearing a shirt, I couldn't figure out why I knew him. He's played it very well.

Did anyone hear the podcast explaining about the casting decisions? Weird that they thought Americans would switch off if they heard an American accent yet it's been well received here in the UK with our accents.

this is properly funny....www.facebook.com/angrypeopleinlocalnewspapers/posts/2534148986630089

I'm listening to a book called Chernobyl History of a Tragedy

The wife of vasily the fire fighter was 6 months pregnant and she miscarried after his funeral.
She had a very active role in the care of her husband and the other fire fighters in the lead up to their deaths. Cooking and feeding them.
I think they've portrayed her very well.
What astound me from the book is how many cut corners there were in the building of Chernobyl and how a lot of the men in charge had absolutely no expertise at all. Even the lead scientist in this, was a chemist and knew hardly anything about the rbmk reactors at all.
Apparently there was another plant in leningrad and it had a very similar incident but it didn't lead to explosion and they all ignored it and there is some question as to what the radioactive fall out from that incident did to the local area and it didn't even explode like in Chernobyl.

I still can't get over the fact that they had a big parade in Kiev when the radiation was at like 1500 milliroentgens

Episode 4 was pretty grim. Unsure as to whether it is the vodka, the gin or the radiation that is going to get valery in the end

Stellan skarsgard great acting looks literally more hangdog by the day

Gin? Fags !!!!

I remember seeing this documentary at the time it was broadcast (1999) and being horrified by it - watch from 43 minutes. The original footage of the men clearing the roof is exactly as depicted in Ep4.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=UBr3fWDtzPY

Chernobyl has been announced as the highest rated mini series (or tv show) ever. I've been listening to the podcast too and it's stunning how much thought and research went into it.

Could have done without the extended dog and cat shooting scenes, I get why they are in the show but it felt a bit gratuitous when they'd gone to so much effort to stay away from the gore factor of the human injuries.

It took me 2 episodes to work out it was Paul Ritter and hadn't noticed Trevor was the miner! As soon as o saw stellan skarsgard was in it I knew I'd watch, he's such a brilliant actor- and that rage fit! 👌

I understand that the events at Chernobyl, in part, helped bring down the Soviet Union as it became apparent how far behind the west the USSR had become, with its poorly trained nuclear workers at reactors known to be potentially unstable.

That and the fact that they saw people as disposable biological robots and their rule was to tell their friends first, enemies second and the general public last

Herondale you’re spot on which is why it makes no sense to me why they allowed the direct victims to be “treated” in hospitals and die in such an awful manner.
They had people shot for such minor infractions, I’m very surprised they didnt
A) put them out of their misery quickly and B) kill them to shut them up
It smells like a rotting rat.

It was all about deflecting the truth and not understanding the real severity of the situation.
I agree that those poor people were left to die in a horrific fashion.

Its exposed a lot of history I was ignorant of, I had no idea Stalin was the instigator of a famine that killed millions of people.
Makes you wonder what other things they may have hidden at the time as well!

I found it absolutely mental when they were discussing the use of robots to clear the roof, and they pretty much said outright that the USA had technology that would most likely withstand the radiation....but they couldn’t stoop so low as to ask for it So rather than lose face, they’d rather let millions of their own people suffer for generations
Absolutely abhorrent

Apparently they roped in 600 000 people as liquidators to clean up the aftermath of the accident.
I got to the bit in the book today that said most were military or reservists.
I think it was 3000 people in the end used to clear that roof and it said it may have been a redundant exercise. The other motive was to get that other reactor 3 up and running again.

Herondale something along those lines yes - each person could only spend a maximum of 90 seconds on the roof before they were exposed to fatal doses of radiation Thats a lot of bods used without a single fuck given regarding what would happen to them

The complete disregard for life is appalling. I think this series has come at the right time for people to see.

I only finished watching Ep4 this morning but it has got to me more than the others. The impossibility of speaking out against the powers that be, the men conscripted to go onto the roof, Lyudmilla's baby.

I think what has got me about this series is just the sheer inadequacy of the protective gear they were given. Those men up on the roof - the most dangerous place in the world probably at that moment in time - had suits on but backs of heads etc exposed, gaps in the suits. The miners given almost nothing bar a mask which they soon ditched as useless. People wandering around a highly radioactive site with no protective clothing at all.

That Johnny Depp type was in a Norwegian Walter Presents drama on C4 about Norway being occupied by the Russians.

I sent 10 years running a children’s charity to help the people affected by the Chernobyl disaster.

I’ve been there too. Right to the edge of the exclusion zone

I’ve been to the children’s cancer hospital, the Abandonded Baby Home, the children’s home, the mother and baby units, to the houses and villages that were emptied but that people are moving back in to.

People don’t believe that it still has an effect on the folk living there, eating, breathing, drinking radioactive food Every Single Day

Babies born with cancer. far higher rates of diabetes. Of thyroid cancer. Leukaemia.

I have photos that would haunt you forever.

I went in 2012. It nearly broke me.

Our @knotty and @pistey went this year

This (my charity) is why the Woolly hugs started the Chernobyl blankets. For the teenagers we bring over every summer.

Ilove, I'm humbled by people like you who set aside their shock and put their energy into action to actually help. 💐

We have a local group who bring over some children from Chernobyl every year and I am ashamed to say, i didn't really understand that they would still be feeling the effects of the disaster now so many years later.

I had no idea people were living there until a few days ago.

Not only is the subject matter horrific, the style in which the show has been made is so unusual. no back story for any of the main characters, no personal life for any of them except Ludmilla, no light moments, it is so powerful and I think they've got it just right.

Iiove - so much respect to you. I've been crocheting for the WH Chernobyl blankets for a few years but it is such a small thing.