‘When people talk about HBO’s great shows, I always hear things like The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire. But no one talks about Chernobyl.

‘It was only 5 episodes but it got 19 Emmy nominations… it’s crazy. I felt like the show captured the memorable event like few other shows could simulate. I didn’t know much about Chernobyl before this, but I learned a lot. I don’t know how historically accurate it is, but I’d rank it among the best.’

Agreeing, Deserana12 argued: ‘This is one of the best things HBO has ever produced. For me, Band of Brothers is really there. A 5-part masterclass in filmmaking, acting and writing. Not a second was wasted. Stellan Skarsgaaard, Jared Harris and Emily Watson were all incredible and the tone of the show was perfect, the portrayal of the Soviet Union was so realistic. It always had a spooky vibe, the music really set the scene.

‘I don’t think there has been a better series that uses every second of time so efficiently and each episode is filled with such rich characters, storytelling and history. ‘In my opinion, it’s an excellent miniseries.’

Chernobyl stars Jared Harris as real-life Soviet chemist Valery Legasov; He embarks on an uphill battle to convince the USSR about the long-term effects of a nuclear explosion, warning that millions of lives are at risk as deadly chemicals spread into neighboring cities.

The summary is as follows: ‘On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union, Ukraine, suffered a massive explosion that released radioactive material into Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, and as far as Scandinavia and Western Europe.

‘Chernobyl dramatizes the story of the 1986 accident, one of the worst man-made disasters in history, and the sacrifices made to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.’

The number of deaths in the 1986 explosion is still debated all these years later. The sudden explosion killed two people; In the following three months, 29 people died of acute radiation sickness, but scientists estimate future radiation-related deaths to be in the thousands.

It is difficult to determine an exact figure, but studies on the subject range from 4,000 from United Nations agencies to 90,000 claimed by Greenpeace International.

Chernobyl isn’t the only under-the-radar show that has captured the attention of fans.