Why is there such a buzz about..?

Chernobyl (Sky/NOW)

who leads the mission to clear the site of radioactive material. Thanks to the skill of the actors and the make-up department, you can virtually feel the radiation seeping from your screen.

In 2006, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wrote: ‘The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl was perhaps the true cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.’

According to some estimates, Chernobyl may have caused more than 90,000 deaths. The official Soviet death toll was 31. – radiation – and it’s utterly terrifying, because most of the events actually happened. It has also proved popular in Russia and Ukraine for its portrayal of some of the astonishing acts of bravery undertaken by ordinary working people such as power-plant staff, firefighters and miners.

Harris, Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard, the three principals, are all brilliant but the entire cast are stellar, including Jessie Buckley as the pregnant wife of a firefighter horrifically burned by radiation, and Ralph Ineson as General Tarakanov, The drama about the nuclear accident in Ukraine in 1986 was first broadcast last year but is proving to have a long half-life. It has garnered numerous awards, including Baftas for best mini-series and best actor (Jared Harris). However, it is word of mouth that’s keeping this haunting, harrowing series about the world’s worst nuclear disaster – and the subsequent cover-up – in the charts.

It’s shot like a dystopian sci-fi film in which the good guys are fighting a deadly, invisible monster