Chernobyl, Sky Atlantic/NOW TV ★★★★★

The first episode of this new five-part drama was as thrilling as any great Hollywood disaster movie you can mention. It was five-star television with a terrific cast and incredible cinematography. Awards should be a formality.

However, I felt guilty for enjoying it so much. It’s based on the horrific accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in 1986, so we are watching real people’s lives being destroyed.

The disaster still feels close to home, both in terms of geography and the comparatively short time that has elapsed since it occurred.

Perhaps that’s why some of the scenes had such a powerful impact – not least the harrowingly beautiful final shot in which a dying bird fell from the sky on to a path in the nearby town, along which merrily oblivious kids had been skipping to school.

As a drama, it almost writes itself. Chernobyl is presented as an abject lesson in how not to handle a disaster. The cover-up started almost immediately, and by the end of this first episode you could see how easily the lies spread from a small bunker at the plant all the way to the Soviet government. As Valery Legasov (Jared Harris, left), the Soviet scientist who was part of the investigation commission, said in the opening flash-forward: “The real danger is if we hear enough lies then we no longer recognise the truth at all.”

As the story unfolds, I doubt that will be the only line that resonates with modern-day audiences.