Episode 1

## Episodes

**Episode 1** • Episode 2 • Episode 3 • Episode 4 • Episode 5

"***Episode 1***" (named "***1:23:45***") is the first episode of *Chernobyl*. It was written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck. The episode first aired on May 6, 2019 on the US pay TV channel HBO.

## Summary

It happened on April 26, 1986: Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in the Ukraine. Without knowing how dangerous the operation is, the fire brigade and first responders arrive at the scene of the accident.

## Plot

On April 26, 1988, Valery Legasov made a series of audio recordings blaming Anatoly Dyatlov for the Chernobyl disaster and denouncing Dyatlov's light sentence. After hiding the recordings outside his apartment, Legasov hangs himself. Exactly 2 years and 1 minute earlier, in Pripyat, Lyudmilla, the pregnant wife of firefighter Vasily Ignatenko, watches an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In the control room of unit 4 of the power plant, Dyatlov ignores the assessment of Akimov, Toptunov and other subordinates who realize that the reactor has exploded. The core is exposed, burning and cannot be controlled under any circumstances. After the fire brigade was called to the scene, Vasily sees another firefighter picking up a block of graphite debris. Shortly thereafter, this firefighter suffers nuclear burns to his hand. Viktor Bryukhanov and Nikolai Fomin receive a report from Dyatlov, but misinformation and overconfidence in the design of the RBMK reactor lead Dyatlov and the Pripyat local governing committee to downplay the incident to Moscow. Dyatlov falls ill with acute radiation sickness and Sitnikov, who insisted on the danger of the incident, is sent to the roof of the reactor to make sure again. He receives a lethal dose. At the behest of Mikhail Gorbachev, Legasov is appointed by Boris Shcherbina to chair the committee investigating the accident.

## Cast

### Leading Actors

* Jared Harris as Valery Legasov
* Stellan Skarsgård as Boris Shcherbina (Voice)
* Paul Ritter as Anatoly Dyatlov
* Jessie Buckley as Lyudmilla Ignatenko
* Adam Nagaitis as Vasily Ignatenko
* Con O'Neill as Bryukhanov
* Adrian Rawlins as Fomin
* Sam Troughton as Akimov
* Robert Emms as Leonid Toptunov

### Supporting Actors

* Michael Shaeffer as a blond man
* Joshua Leese as Igor Kirschenbaum
* Adam Lundgren as Brazhnik
* Karl Davies as Viktor Proskuryakov
* Paulius Markevicius as Aleksandr Kudryavstev
* Jay Simpson as Perevozchenko
* Billy Postlethwaite as Boris Stolyarchuk
* Ross Armstrong as Nikolai Gorbachenko
* Douggie McMeekin as Yuvchenko
* Karolis Kasperavicius will play Viktor Degtaryenko
* Sam Strike as Misha
* Gerard Kearns as Pravik
* Sammy Hayman as Titenok
* Povilas Jatkevicius as Kibenok
* Laura Elphinstone as Oksana
* Michael Socha as Mikhail
* Nadia Clifford as Dr. Svetlana Zinchenko
* Ron Cook as Old Maternity Doctor
* Jan Ricica as Oksana's child
* Matas Dirgincius will be Vladimir Tishchura
* Jamie Sives as Sitnikov
* Caolan Byrne as a day shift worker
* Stephen Bisland as a night shift worker
* Alex Blake as Petrovich
* Donald Sumpter as Zharkov

### Not mentioned

* Roman Listopad as a civilian
* Sky in Ragazinskaite as a zivilist
* Zachary Street as a Liquidator
* Tomas Zaibus as a police officer