Chernobyl Historian Serhii Plokhy on the Accuracy of the HBO Series 

I watched the HBO miniseries a week ago and was initially very impressed. But as the series went on, I increasingly got the feeling that it was unrealistic in significant ways. This was particularly the case by the time it got to the trial. I already knew that Legasov was not at the trial, so now to see him being portrayed there as taking a valiant stand, attemping to break the silence on the failures of the RMBK reactor design, did not ring true at all. So after watching the HBO series, I started to read books on the subject: "Chernobyl" by Serhii Plokhy as seen in this video, and also "Midnight in Chernobyl" by Adam Higginbotham, which came out earlier this year. After reading these books, I became quite angry about many aspects of the HBO series. It seems to me quite disgraceful the way they portrayed people like Briukhanov and Diatlov as being incompetent, cruel and dictatorial. Especially Briukhanov, but even Diatlov; I learned from Plokhy's book that Diatlov refused at the trial to blame his subordinates (eg Akimov and Toptunov), even though they were now dead and could not defend themselves; and in later years wrote to their parents to tell them that their dead sons were not to blame. True, the books tell us that Diatlov was stubborn, disliked dissent, could be rude and brusque. But that's nothing like the cruel, uncaring, egotistical, self-serving man portrayed by HBO. The treatment of Briukhanov by HBO was in many ways even worse. In reality he didn't even know the test was happening (Fomin, his deputy, did not tell him), unlike what is shown in the series. The books tell us that after the accident he certainly was ineffective and at times unwilling to accept what had clearly happened, but also that he was clearly in shock at the time, and that this behaviour stood in stark contrast to all he had achieved before that point. In the HBO series, he is shown as being equally ineffectual and lax both before and after the accident - and shows no signs of being in shock in the aftermath. There is a scene in the mini-series where he openly tells Boris Shcherbina that the reactor has not exploded, 18+ hours after the accident. In reality he accepted what had happened long before that. It was only with regard to radiation levels that he was slow to accept the truth, and even there, as Plokhy explains in this video, he simply chose to believe a lower report versus a higher one. And according to the books he was certainly far from alone in doing that. Given that the tagline of the miniseries is "What is the cost of lies?", I found it particularly disappointing that they treated these people with such disregard - which is exactly what the Soviet system did to the them in the aftermath of the accident; made them scapegoats. Far from illuminating events, with regard to these people it seems to me that the HBO series treated them with the same disdain and contempt as the system did in 1986 and beyond. I quite understand that a TV series needs a clear narrative, and there is always going to be some element of "heroes and villains". But for me this was going far too far. Chernobyl was already an amazing and powerful story; it didn't need to be manipulated in this way to make a watchable series. Anyway, it was great to see this video by Plokhy going into more detail into the differences between the HBO series and reality. His book really is excellent and highly recommended.

I'd just like to thank Serhii Plokhy for writing his book and for appearing here providing 'the rest of the world' more information regarding this truly sad chapter of world history. As Mr. Spock (from Star Trek) would say "Fascinating"

When they talk about the HBO portraying the incident as purely human, I feel like that was the opposite of what the show was trying to portray, that there are no clear villains or hero’s adn that it was a combination of the state and human arrogance that lead to the disaster

Plokhy is an important and honorable historian. Unfortunately, many seek to read history in order to find simple fairy tales. But real history is the story of how real people faced complex situations, made difficult decisions, and faced unexpected consequences. History is full of tragedy, and yet it shows that real people, just like us, acted and thus created the world we now find ourselves in. If you wish to understand, you need to read historians like Plokhy.

I've seen medical mistakes/ disasters and I have never heard of an accident being due to just one little thing. He is so right, it is always a whole load of errors coming together to create a disaster and to this day, I have heard nothing to reject this hypothesis.

Thank you for this amazing video, great job! All the best from the Czech republic...

I'm presently reading his book, and I have to honestly say it's informative & provocative!

This was a very worthwhile interview. Really interesting, and I appreciate how down to earth Serhii is. Thanks a lot for doing the interview in english!

The book's very good and detailed but it states that the three men that drained the water from under the reactor died in weeks after their action. Expected the question on this topic. Anyone know more on the reasons of this disproportion pls?

Great miniseries. Better book. I am wondering, however, why the story of Dr. Robert Gale, the bone marrow specialist did not appear at all in the miniseries. He along with doctors from about 15 other countries accepted invitations to help treat the victims shortly after the disaster according to a New York times article in July of 1986. In the Plokhy book he mentions that the benefit of Gale's bone marrow transplants is controversial. I don't think Plokhy mentions the doctors from other countries. Is there a narrative of cooperation between countries (at least between medical professionals of these countries) that could be shared? And, is there a story about the powerlessness of such doctors to help even the relatively small amount of victims of Chernobyl (cf. Hiroshima) that should be told?

People doing tasks under the gun - right, it wasn't like that. But as for KGB - it was their job to deal with blocking information or spreading misinformation. And KGB did penetrate Soviet society very thoroughly.

HEERRR WIINKLLÄÄÄR

Yes, it was 100% avoidable, sadly. First off, unit 4 was the _third_ RBMK reactor to undergo meltdown. All experienced thermal runaway after low coolant event. There lessons learnt from that were kept secret, there was no safety culture All three occurred due to human error, insufficient training, poor inter-shift handover and poor safety culture.

It is a shame the interviewer is so doggedly pursuing her (network's) narrative of things that the series did wrong in an attempt to get content that would be "clickbait". Pushing pushing and pushing the same topic, even though the interviewee probably has a 100 more interesting things to say...

Go and see the site so that you can understand what ignorance can do. Very true. Thank you Mr.Plokhy for your kind and informative interview.

So what he is saying is that the show is accurate - and it's not accurate. What?

She's so beautiful!

I was born in the Mersey valley, England. At the age of 16 or 17 I was riding motorbike though electric air. .... From this place

I'm not laughing at this man (1:35, 19:39) but it's humorous!! hahahahahaha!

They are talking about a miniseries which is fiction and full of bull shit IMHO. What is the point?

Do you get pedicures? The reason in ask is because i have a bet with a8 friend that hosts don't paint their toes

The HBO miniseries is so incredibly one-sided and almost comedically inaccurate on its desperation to demonize the Soviet system. Imagine if Russia or China decided to make a historical mini-series based on an American tragedy.. would us westerners believe them? No, absolutely not, but for some reason we're so willing to believe the USSR's greatest ideological and military enemy when it's the other way around. What's even more disgusting is we ignore testimony from those who were there.. I've seen countless people say that they're lying for a dead country when the reality is they're defending a place they feel patriotic about since it cannot defend itself anymore. There were some accuracies concerning the science but the idea of everyone doing things under duress, or the government preventing people to leave, is pure myth but considering the anti-communist rhetoric of the west and the religious zeal behind it I cannot say I'm surprised. For the record, the writer is a vehement anti-communist that pushes long since debunked Red Scare propaganda on Twitter, even narratives that the west admits is nonsense. Says a lot with how indoctrinated Americans are. As for Serhii Plokhy.. he also believes in ridiculous western myths and working for Harvard I'm sure he has to push certain western narratives to prevent being blacklisted. For me that makes him wholly untrustworthy.

Seething ruskies