Yes, I am another person telling you to watch "Chernobyl"
"Ambulance" is also back and you should be watching "What/If" for all of the wrong reasons.
Hope you’re doing well and that the Bank Holiday didn’t break you.
A few things that are worth talking about this week:
What/If (Netflix): I touched upon this drama last week (it’s the Renée Zellweger venture capitalist sex game one). This Netflix show is shit hot at the moment, in that it is hot because it is shit.
I have always maintained that you shouldn’t just watch the best television out there — there’s a very good case for the very worst to refuel your brain when you’re slightly broken, and this is show for exactly that. There’s even been articles written about whether the show is deliberately terrible. I mean, for god’s sake. If that doesn’t convince, I’m not sure what will.
Chernobyl (Now TV / Sky Atlantic): I’m saying it: This Sky drama about the 1986 nuclear explosion is, without a doubt, one of the best you will watch this year. It deserves all the hype. I mentioned this show in an earlier newsletter, when the first episode was out, but it simply gets better. The first episode was about the immediate explosion, the characters sometimes hard to read and the narrative a bit complicated at times. But stick with it, it develops into something so rewarding.
The appeal of Chernobyl isn’t just its amazing attention to detail (read this thread on Twitter) and the fact that nobody speaks in distracting fake Russian accents, it’s that all the radiation, the agony, the horrific lack of planning, the death, actually happened here. This isn’t a drama that showed you what could happen, it’s a sobering reminder of what did, and its devastating century long consequences.
(Sky is making it possible to watch the first episode on their website, in case you are on the fence about whether to get yourself a Now TV subscription or not).
Ambulance (BBC One, Thursday 9pm) - The fifth series of the BAFTA Award-winning series returns, following paramedics and 999 operators from Manchester and the North West. You will be floored at how difficult these jobs are on a daily basis and how constantly calm these professionals remain when they are dealing with people in distress. Also, you will wonder how they manage to constantly move on when they get so little closure (the 999 operators hand over to the ambulance crews, the ambulance crews hand over to doctors and then both move on to the next call).
Most of all, this show reminds you that you need to embrace the now, because you don’t exactly know what is going to happen next. Make time for it.
Drag Race (Netflix): This week is the final episode of the series, and while I don’t think it has been the best season yet, it has been an enjoyable weekly watch. But are you watching Untucked? The spin-off show, also available on Netflix, is at times more engaging (and sometimes more unintentionally hilarious) than the real thing.
Also watch… When They See Us (Netflix, out Friday) - Ava DuVernay’s drama about the five individuals who were wrongly convicted for the rape of a jogger in New York in 1989 - a case known as the Central Park Five - is a compelling and utterly damning take on the criminal justice system. The second episode, which focuses on the failures of the media, particularly makes you realise that something like this could easily again. We reviewed this on Must Watch podcast this week.
Don’t watch… Riviera (Sky Atlantic / Now TV) - It is not good. Not bad good either.
Also… a reminder: I’m hosting and producing a new Twitter / BF show starting next week called #What2Watch, which has its first episode week Thursday. I spoke to Journalism.co.uk about what to expect (basically, send me your tweets).
That’s all for this week. As ever, if there is a show that you think deserves a mention on here, simply respond to this email and I’ll include it in next week’s email.
Scotty x