Hollywood version of Chernobyl disaster There is a history and there is a Hollywood version of history. In this series they opted for a Hollywood version. I will not complain about the British English, since it has already been criticized here in many reviews. I see people generally don't agree with the language criticism for some reason. Maybe because they don't care or the series has, as usually, created a fan's cult. It is mind boggling to see so many people praising the accuracy of this series while in reality they just barely touched it. I will try to articulate why I stated that.
I think the biggest idiotic mistake that the series did was to portray people, who are contaminated with radiation, as contagious. In reality, once a person's skin and clothing are washed, his or her ability to expose others to radiation is eliminated. The protective plastic screens around victims of ARS (Acute Radiation Syndrome), shown in the series, were not for the visitors but for the victims due to their weaker immune system. Portraying them as contagious was dangerous and irresponsible because In case of a similar accident in future, less knowledgeable people will be hesitant to help them. And it's not because of the general perception of people at that time that they portrayed it like that. Even the nurses and nuclear physicist Ulana Khomyuk presented similar views in the series.
Another issue with the series was that they added a fictional character of Ulana Khomyuk, who by the way was always right. Why did they add a fictional character when they did so much research for the authenticity of costumes and set design? According to the writer, he wanted to present the Soviet liberties of women. If he wanted to do that, why didn't he just add the character of Maria Protsenko, who was the Sino-Russian Chief architect of Pripyat. She helped vacate the town after the disaster and even stayed, one year after the accident, in the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone. She also helped the liquidators by creating hand-drawn copies of the maps (It was restricted to get the copier in the USSR). Or Angelina Guskova, who was a surgeon and radiation expert. She established radiation protection standards and medical management guidelines after nuclear accidents. She was in charge of the Moscow hospital which took care of the 132 ARS patients after the disaster.
Let me explain to you why it is a bad thing to add fictional characters in a historical series. I watched the series when it was just released. Recently I got the chance to read a book about it. After reading many chapters I didn't find Ulana Khomyuk. When I did some research, I found out that she is a fictional character. I never imagined that a show, which is being praised for historical accuracy in the reviews, could add a totally fictional character. You can just imagine the knowledge of a person whose only research about Chernobyl is this series. For me it's a disservice to the men and women who actually faced that crisis bravely.
There is a long list of inaccuracies. The naked miners or the urban legend of helicopter crash over the Bridge of Death. People who are interested in it, can go check the Wikipedia page. I am giving it 6 stars for the actors, special effect and the research they did to present the environment of that era. If you are someone who doesn't care about historical accuracies, this might be the best series. But If you do, just watch it by keeping in mind that a lot of things in this series are fictional.