Source:
https://scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3015840/why-chernobyl-so-good-how-make-great-historical-tv-drama
Lifestyle/ Entertainment

Why is Chernobyl so good? How to make a great historical TV drama

  • The five-part HBO series has already attracted more than 9 million cumulative viewers, with a companion podcast proving almost as popular
  • It has been helped by parallels to present political conditions, as well as its drawing on popular genres such as disaster movie and legal drama
Emily Watson in a still from Chernobyl. The HBO series has benefited from parallels to the climate-change crisis and the proliferation of misinformation, renewed interest in Russia and the cold war, and even its manageable five-episode length.

Chernobyl isn’t the likeliest of hits.

The five-part HBO/Sky Atlantic co-production lacks the bombast of Game of Thrones , the star power of Big Little Lies, the lacerating humour of Veep. It focuses sustained attention on the intricacies of Soviet bureaucracy, the nature of fission, and the gruesome results of radiation poisoning. And yet the series, written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck, has attracted more than nine million cumulative viewers to date, according to HBO.