Chernobyl is a mini-series that is widely considered to be ‘haunting’, with some fans reporting that it gave them nightmares it’s so realistically unsettling.
This earned it a lauded title as one of the top five shows on IMDb, placing it above The Wire, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Office, and Clarkson’s Farm.
The HBO TV show is a retelling of the 1986 disaster in which a nuclear reactor near the city of Chernobyl exploded, causing between 30 and 60 deaths in the aftermath and in the long-term contributing to what is estimated to be as many as 60,000 deaths.
Starring Jared Harris, newly minted Oscar winner Jessie Buckley, and Stellan Skarsgard, it also featured supporting performances from Barry Keoghan before his rise to fame and Ralph Ineson.
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Now, for the first time ever, the ten-time Emmy winning mini-series is going to be free to watch ahead of the 40 year anniversary of the tragedy.
Chernobyl is statistically one of the greatest shows ever made
Where fans will often debate the veracity of show’s Rotten Tomatoes score, IMDb is a lot harder to argue with considering it is simply an average out of ten of how fans rated a film or TV show.
When you examine the company Chernobyl keeps in the top five as well it is clear proof that the website does a good job of filtering the best shows.
The highest rated show ever is Breaking Bad, closely followed by both Planet Earth shows and Band of Brothers.
Allison Keene of Collider gave the show a perfect five stars, saying it’s ‘a series where you will have to remind yourself to unclench your jaw and un-tense your shoulders while watching it’. Sonia Saraiya of Vanity Fair gave it similarly high praise, saying it ‘is not just excellent television; it's paradigm-shifting historical storytelling, the kind of tale that alters, ever-so-subtly, the texture of the real world’.
Viewers will be able to watch Chernobyl for free for the first time ever
Chernobyl was produced by both Sky and HBO even though it is mostly known for its connection to the American TV studio as opposed to its British co-producer.
Now though, ahead of the 40 year anniversary of the disaster, Sky will be making it free to view.
This will be airing on Sky Mix, their free-to-air TV channel, nightly next week.
The five-episode TV mini-series will air at 9pm from April 20 to April 24 ahead of the anniversary on April 26.
If you miss any of this though not to worry, as with a subscription to Sky or NOWTV it will be available to stream whenever.
Topics: Chernobyl, HBO, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin