Good Morning Lovelies,

I won’t lie. When I first saw Chimerica advertised on Channel 4 I thought it was going to be a show right up my street. However, the four-part series ended up being of a surprise than anything I could have ever imagined and it is now out on DVD and digitally today.

Set in China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, each episode captures Lee Berger (Alessandro Nivola), a young American photojournalist, as he snaps the pieces of history he sees. Yet, upon taking images one day, he is faced with the rolling in of tanks and soldiers at his hotel. All of which leading to a jump, 20 years in the future, as he follows a corrupted presidential election. Something which ends up being the least of his worries, when a message appears in a Chinese newspaper, which leads him on a journey back to find out who the man in a photo within the paper is.

Each episode is filled with tense drama that pushes every boundary possible. Both the viewers and the on-screen characters. Based on Lucy Kirkwood’s award-winning play, the series is a real look at fake news and how it came to be. Even in a time when the news wasn’t covering it as much as it does today.

There is a real push to show that the world and all that we know isn’t and hasn’t always been as we may see it. There is a difference in what we do and what we want to believe and Chimerica will make you reflect on this, days after watching. Especially with the addition of real-life events taking place on-screen.

The show is intelligent, clever and gripping no matter if you follow the news or not. Each aspect of life is shown in a new way. Every element of what you thought you knew about it is questioned. Fake news or not, the show highlights a time before and the present to give us the power to think. A power to reflect. A power to question what we truly see. Even when the moments on screen are fake, it all feels very real.