'A horrible way to die': how Chernobyl recreated a nuclear meltdown

From 'painting on' radiation sickness to making the explosion less 'Die Hard', the acclaimed drama has gone to great lengths to evoke the chaos and terror of the Soviet-era disaster

We were lucky to have survived the Cold War without a nuclear attack. The pop culture of that chilly era warned what the bomb would do: the crisping of the skin; the slow agony of radiation sickness; the pollution of the land; and the death of cities.

The bomb didn't explode, but some people experienced a fragment of this horror. The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 brought explosions, radiation sickness, evacuations, contaminated earth and, finally, medals awarded and memorials erected. It was war after all - but not against the west; this was another type of nuclear enemy.