Viewers of HBO series Chernobyl not happy with one ‘flaw’ on the show

Chernobyl has almost overnight garnered widespread acclaim, but there is one “unrealistic” feature viewers aren’t happy with.

Chernobyl has become one of the most talked-about shows of the year after it soared passed the likes of Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones to become the highest rated show on IMDb.

Everything from its script, costume, set precision and acting have been praised, while viewers are glued to the bleak five-part mini series as they struggle to comprehend the events actually happened.

Chernobyl, which is available to stream on Foxtel, is based on the real-life events of the catastrophic nuclear disaster in northern Ukrainian SSR in 1986.

The series follows the fallout of the April 26 accident, the worst nuclear disaster in history, as physicist Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) works with the Soviet Union government that is desperately trying to hide the truth about the incident, which happened during a late-night safety test.

But there is one “flaw” in the show viewers are baffled by.

Obviously, the events of the disaster took place in Russia, but the actors speak in English accents — something that has not gone unnoticed by the millions watching it.

Okay so this Chernobyl miniseries is very good but it took me a while to accept that they were just going to straight up do British accents and not even attempt Russian accents and then four episodes in they just bring in a new character WITH A FULL ASS AMERICAN ACCENT.

— K a t i e J o (@katiejoyofosho) June 10, 2019

Just started watching Chernobyl and it is so, so good BUT what is with this trend of using a British accent as a stand-in for any foreign language?!

— Brian Pietrus (@flannelgoat) June 10, 2019

Sad to see that #Chernobyl used British accents. If you're gonna tell a Ukrainian story why not cast Ukranian actors? Or at least actors who can do the accent? The problem with telling indigenous stories through a Brit/US lens is that realism and authenticity go out the window

— Juist Fez For Now (@Wonder_and_Live) June 9, 2019

I’m sorry to do this because the show is still incredible... but why does everyone in “Chernobyl” have British accents if they’re the people of Chernobyl? Wouldn’t a Russian accent make more sense? Can someone shut me up and prove me wrong?

— 🍒 (@avilatequila) June 11, 2019

Only thing that has bugged me about this amazing series is the lack of Ukrainian / Russian spoken even a slight accent when speaking English. Apart from that really enjoyable and very educational. #Chernobyl

— Gareth Jacob (@Garethwjacob18) June 11, 2019

Emily Watson as Ulana Khomyuk in Chernobyl was both glorious and disaster. Glorious because it’s Emily Watson, at first place. But a disaster because Emily used her British accent in a character as a Belarusian scientist. 🤦🏻‍♂️

— Isidorus Rio Turangga (@isidorusss) June 6, 2019

The show’s creator Craig Mazin set the record straight on the HBO show’s official podcast, revealing the cast was originally going to speak in Russian accents, but there were concerns they sounded “comic”.

“What we found very quickly is that actors will act accents. They will not act, they will act accents, and we were losing everything about these people that we loved,” Mazin said.

“Honestly, I think after maybe one or two auditions we said, ‘OK, new rule. We’re not doing that anymore’.

“We didn’t want to fall into the ‘Boris and Natasha’ cliched accent (from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show) because the Russian accent can turn comic very easily.

Chernobyl is the highest rating show on IMDb.

“My hope is that the accent thing just fades away in seconds and you stop caring about it. “Ultimately, a person’s accent is completely irrelevant to what’s going on because there are things happening that don’t even need an accent to be communicated — panic, fear, excitement, worry, sadness. They’re just emotions.”

It’s still debated how many people died in the Chernobyl disaster due to radiation and long-term health effects as a result of the nuclear accident, with estimates ranging from 4000 to a whopping 90,000.

To this day, areas of Eastern Europe are still impacted by radiation.

Chernobyl is available to stream on Foxtel On Demand