Totally and utterly brilliant and so exciting. It really is tv/film at its very best. Saw it first time around but now the whole series is on it is unmissable.
It was really well done, but I couldn't get my head round all the actors speaking English and gave up after the first episode. The trend seems these days to be moving towards having things in the original language whenever possible. Narcos for example had all the Americans speaking English among themselves, and the drug gangs speaking in Spanish with English subtitles. I think a lot would have been lost had they spoken English. Likewise with Chernobyl, the mock-ups of the Soviet flats which were used for the sets were incredibly accurate. But for the actors to then open their mouths and English to come out made it very difficult for me to take seriously.
I didn't have a problem with that, there were some cracking performances and it was an English/American production with an American writer/director. I think the quality would be compromised if you had English actors trying to speak Russian, or alternatively an English writer/director trying to write/direct for Russian actors without speaking the language. I'd advise you to give it another go, as it is fantastic. You don't watch Gladiator and expect it all to be in Latin so you might be able to get used to it. As I say, it's definitely worth it.
English actors speaking Russian would definitely be a no-go. I don't know if you watched The Queen's Gambit (my favourite series of the year by the way) but none of the Russian characters were actually Russian. The main one, Borgov, was played by a Pole and his accent was barely noticeable, but the Moscow taxi drivers were clearly native English speakers. Obviously it's not going to be noticeable to anyone who doesn't speak Russian, but I am still rather surprised that they didn't bother finding a Russian speaker to play a taxi driver. It's not like they're in short supply! Back to the the original point, I know that I'm missing out by not watching it, so maybe I'll give it another go. As a last resort, I can download the TV version that was one here as it's dubbed into Russian!
As with any programme with subtitles the visual imagery takes second place to reading the subtitles. So much of Chernobyl's impact is visual and needs to be seen instantly with its sound. Devastatingly sad about the killing of the animals. Leaves you speechless.
binged watched all episodes yesterday after reading your comments harrowing at times but a brilliant watch - cheers