‘Chernobyl’s Jared Harris & Emily Watson Share Their Own Memories From the Disaster
Q&A
It could have been Armageddon. On April 26, 1986, a massive explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine fatally injured workers and released a radioactive cloud.
This gripping five-part drama tells how two brilliant and determined Soviet nuclear physicists, Ulana Khomyuk and Valery Legasov (Emily Watson and Jared Harris), saved millions of lives by preventing a chain-reaction at the plant. The costars took us inside the contamination zone.
Are your characters based on real people?
Jared Harris: Yes. Valery Legasov was plucked out of his life one morning and told to sort out [one of] the worst man-made disasters of all time. The reactor core was exposed and on fire. There was no playbook on how to put it out.
Emily Watson: Ulana is a composite of scientists involved in the containment and investigation. [She has to fight] a political system in denial about the level of radiation and the imminent disaster of a secondary explosion.
(Credit: HBO)
You both were living in the U.K. at the time of Chernobyl. What are your memories of the disaster?
Watson: It was scary, shocking. Also, there was a massive disconnect between what Soviet Union citizens were told by their government — “There is nothing to worry about” — and what Europeans were told: “Don’t take your kids outside.”
Harris: But “If it rains, do not go outside” is kind of tough if you live in England! The weathermen were tracking the [radiation] cloud.
In the show, we see through the eyes of a young firefighter’s wife, Lyudmilla Ignatenko (Jessie Buckley), just how deadly exposure can be. It’s tough to watch.
Watson: Firemen and miners volunteered to help knowing they would probably be dead in a week. There’s extraordinary heroism. [For her investigation] Ulana interviews people suffering from appalling radiation syndrome. They look like lychees by the end, don’t they?
Harris: It’s pretty gut-turning. One of the things that you see from the story is that the people who pay the price are by and large all innocent.
(Credit: HBO)
Why does the bureaucracy finally act?
Harris: Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Boris Shcherbina [Stellan Skarsgård], who leads the government commission on Chernobyl, becomes disillusioned. He realizes this lie is killing people.
Watson: The three of us press on until we get to the bottom of why the explosion happened.
Harris: The state doesn’t want the truth to come out. Halfway through, the story turns into a political thriller.
Chernobyl, Miniseries Premiere, Monday, May 6, 9/8c, HBO
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