10 Most Terrifying Moments From HBO's Chernobyl

Chernobyl never really lets you stop for breath, but the rooftop scene is something else entirely. Soon after the scene aired, footage of the real rooftop clearing scene appeared online, and the TV show’s similarity is eerily terrifying.

When the moon rover mentioned earlier fails, Legasov suggests they use men. Until now, any thought of it had been off the table; such extreme exposure can prove deadly, even in the smallest of doses.

With a strict set of rules regarding how long they can be up there and how close they get to the edge, a series of men are sent up to clear the deadly graphite from Chernobyl’s roof. The importance and risk of this venture is laid clear, and the weight of saving Chernobyl falls onto their collective shoulders.

In a genius piece of filmmaking, rather than show us the scale of the operation on a macro level, we get a single journey on a micro level. Following one unnamed man, we see him struggle with the heavy debris, rush to get the job done, and feel the seeping terror as he realises his suit has been compromised.

Truly gripping stuff.