Chernobyl - "1:23:45" and "The Happiness of All Mankind"

by Mark Murton

Original Air Dates: May 6 and May 27, 2019

Starring: Tinkerbell

Directed by: Johan Renck

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out Of The Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this series.

Synopsis: On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union suffered a massive explosion. This gripping five-part miniseries tells the powerful and visceral story of the worst man-made accident in history, following the tragedy from the moment of the early-morning explosion through the chaos and loss of life in the ensuing days, weeks and months.

Kitty Cameos: The very first shot of the first episode, 1:23:45, shows a tabby and white cat relaxing on an ornately patterned sofa as a tape of a man’s voice is heard.

Chernobyl - 1:23:45 - tabby and white cat lying on ornate sofa

We soon learn this is the cat of Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) who is putting the finishing touches to the tapes he has been making detailing the events of two years ago to the day, the day the Chernobyl reactor exploded. Finishing the tape, Legasov wraps it up with others he has made and hides them outside. He then comes back into the apartment where the cat is waiting patiently to be fed.

Chernobyl - 1:23:45 - tabby and white cat sitting patiently

Chernobyl - 1:23:45 - tabby and white cat walking

Legasov prepares and puts down food, including three extra dishes, for the cat who tucks in hungrily.

Chernobyl - 1:23:45 - tabby and white cat eating from dishes on floor

As the cat feeds, Legasov enjoys a final cigarette and at 1:23:45 hangs himself. Sated, the cat sits and washes itself.

Chernobyl - 1:23:45 - tabby and white cat preening

The series title appears followed by an on-screen caption telling us it is now “two years and one minute earlier” when Legasov receives the call alerting him to the fire at the power plant, with the ringing of the phone waking him and the cat.

Chernobyl - 1:23:45 - tabby and white cat lying on chair

Episode 4, The Happiness of All Mankind, is dated August 1986. The evacuation of the area around Chernobyl is well underway. A young soldier enters a barn where an old woman is milking a cow. As she explains how she’s lived there all her life through revolution, Stalin and World War II and certainly isn’t going to leave because of something she can’t even see, we’re shown various shots of the property including one featuring a black and white cat.

Chernobyl - black and white cat behind old shirt

Later in the episode, we are introduced to Pavel (Barry Keoghan) who has been conscripted to join the army of liquidators. He is teamed up with two veterans of the Afghanistan War, Bacho (Fares Fares) and Garo (Alexej Manvelov) who inform Pavel that they’re on animal control duty, and are in charge of “euthanizing” the animals in the exclusion zone, most of whom will be pets. Dogs come willingly to their calls and are easy targets, although we don’t see a cat until one runs quickly across the road behind the soldiers.

As their grim work continues, they move on to another village where a couple of stray cream and white tabby cats (one with black markings on its face) are sitting near a deserted building.

Chernobyl - cream and white tabby cat lying in grass

Chernobyl - close up of cream and white tabby cat

Kitty Carnage Warning! No cats are shown being killed during these scenes but the final shot of the sequence leaves us in no doubt as to the extent of the carnage as a small mountain of animals is unceremoniously dumped into a pit and quickly encased in concrete.

Inside Chernobyl

The tabby and white cat in the first episode was played by cat actor Tinkerbell working for Birds and Animals UK.

A TV documentary about the series aired on March 3, 2021 in which presenter Ben Fogle visited Chernobyl and met with some of the people who have resettled there. Among them is Valentina who lives in her former home with her pet dog, Dana, as well as a grey fluffy cat which is seen outside as they arrive.