IAN HYLAND on last night’s telly

Chernobyl, Sky Atlantic/NOW TV ★★★★★

Whenever Greatest TV Drama Of All Time lists are compiled the usual suspects inevitably crop up.

The Sopranos. Breaking Bad. House of Cards. Black Mirror. Game of Thrones. The Wire. Line of Duty. Band of Brothers.

We should now take those lists and, starting at the top, knock every show down a place.

Chernobyl really was that good. You could argue that being a true story gave it an advantage, but no other true story has been told in such a thought-provoking, awe-inspiring, ignorance-shaming, gobsmacking way.

Those involved would probably prefer not to win prizes off the back of so much suffering but boards will surely be swept when awards season comes around. And I will recognise every winner’s name. Because at the end of each emotionally-draining episode all I could do was stare at the screen as the end credits rolled. That was doubly true of last night’s finale which prefaced the end credits with real footage and photographs of – and updates on – the people whose stories we had watched.

That followed a tour de force performance from Jared Harris as Soviet nuclear physicist Valery Legasov which featured one of the greatest closing speeches ever written:

“The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants. It doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask: What is the cost of lies?” I think the word you may be looking for here is timely.