'Chernobyl' becomes highest rated IMDb show

HBO's "Chernobyl", which dramatises one of the world's worst man-made catastrophes due to an explosion in a nuclear plant, has surpassed shows such as "Game of Thrones" and "Breaking Bad" to become IMDb's all-time TV rankings just days after airing.

The five-episode show, written by Craig Mazin and directed Johan Renck, had a 9.6-star rating out of 10, based on 152,634 users, as of June 6.

The rating puts "Chernobyl" ahead of cult TV shows such as "Breaking Bad" (9.5), "Planet Earth II" (9.5), "Band of Brothers" (9.5), "Planet Earth" (9.4), "Game of Thrones" and "The Wire".

"Chernobyl" is a retelling of the massive explosion of the nuclear power plant in Ukraine on April 26, 1986, and its aftermath. The explosion released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and as far as Scandinavia and western Europe, according to Variety.

The show has earned unanimous critical praise for its handling of the story.