10 Most Terrifying Moments From HBO's Chernobyl

10. The Bridge Of Death

This a little bit of an outlier on the list, as it’s the only entry which requires a little bit of wider knowledge of Chernobyl to be truly terrifying.

The series does a wonderful job of maintaining factual accuracy while still telling a gripping story that doesn’t exclude those with no knowledge of the accident apart from Chernobyl’s infamous name. However, with the frankly absurd amount of detail and total coverage explored in just five episodes, there are some little flourishes which require a bit of prior knowledge.

In the opening episode, the townspeople see the tower alight and gather on a nearby bridge to watch the blaze. The noxious yellow glow is oddly beautiful against the black sky, and it seems like this scene is there to show the naivety of the citizens, and our obsession as a species for observing destruction.

Lyudmilla is invited, but declines, as her husband is fighting the fire and doesn’t want to worry herself. This decision saves her life; the nuclear radiation on the bridge was so strong that everyone gathered there died from the poison in the months after.

It became known as the Bridge Of Death.