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TOM: We filmed a lot of B-roll all over Pripyat

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and the zone and there is no way we are going to get to use it all.

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We also think we'd get a lot of questions about how we got to the zone,

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So I thought I'd put up a load of really cool footage

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of what we got up to, and then

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answer some of the questions that are gonna come up.

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PAUL: Getting here's actually very simple.

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It's not a big deal. There's no

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drama about it. It is as straightforward as

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organising an excursion on a regular holiday.

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Pretty much. There is some

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technicalities that you have to go through,

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there's all of the paperwork that has to be signed off

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but, a company does that for you.

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There are very many different levels,

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we've gone for a private tour,

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you can join a bus full of people--.

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TOM: I'm sure there are-- is a level above what we're doing.

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because we're not in a bad hotel here,

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Considering we are in the middle-- We are actually staying in the exclusion zone.

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Yeah, I've got a shower, I've got a bed, I've got a

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screen door that won't let insects in,

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PAUL: Wi-fi internet?

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TOM: Yeah that's a point!

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We could upload this from here if we wanted to.

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We've got like 5 megs down, 1 megs up.

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And again, we are in the exclusion zone, here.

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PAUL: Permission is not handled by us - we're not the magicians that make that happen

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That's down to the tour company and that's relatively standard paperwork

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TOM: Yeah, the answer is you pay your tour company the right amount of money

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Um, we don't really want to recommend a tour company

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Uh, because in case we broke any rules anywhere - we don't want to get a tour company in trouble

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and also, by the time you watch this if it's a few months down the line

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it may have changed hands. So do your research, look at reviews, get a recommendation from a friend if you can.

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But ultimately, permission comes from them

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TOM: We saw a lot of abandoned buildings in Pripyat

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uh, obviously that's kind of...

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PAUL: A lot of them start to merge into each other as well...

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There's only so many rooms with a couple of cupboards, some appliances that have had all of the copper stripped out

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that you can see before they start looking a little bit samey

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TOM: But then you've got things like the cultural palace, the culture palace

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PAUL: That was distinctive

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TOM: That was the moment where I...

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I sort of walked out of there and onto the main plaza in Pripyat

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and there's a hotel that's abandoned, the main plaza's overgrown there's trees coming through the concrete

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and that was the moment when I went...

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This used to be a city with 40,000 people in it

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This... this used to be thriving and this is what happens if you just abandon it for a while

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That was that moment of going, oh, ok

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PAUL: It brings the scale home as well. I mean...

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40,000 people kind of...

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it's a good figure but it doesn't mean much until you recognise the scope compared to a town in the UK

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TOM: Yeah, or wherever you live

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PAUL: And this was a young town, this was a professional town, the average age here was about 26. Which is where I am and-- Tom is timeless

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And it was people like us, it was, I mean I'm not a physicist but I have a reasonable understanding of science

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and that was kind of the level of most people working maintenance here

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they had to be reasonably qualified to get into the town

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It was a very nice one, by standards of the day. It was a model city

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And because of that, there's quite a lot of footage out there of the city in operation

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You can go back and see it in its heyday

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and when you place yourself there, in its current state of disrepair

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it adds a, hell of a gravity

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TOM: Yeah, yeah. It's sombre

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Um, I mean there is always a question when you do something like this because it is, essentially, disaster tourism

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It's 30 years on...

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It's already been looted, trashed, pillaged

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There is nothing intact there

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Anything of value that could have been taken, has been

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Anything of sentimental value has either been taken by its original owner

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or has just been trashed

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You're not treading on hallowed ground

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But equally it's not a fun 'let's go do things' holiday

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PAUL: Yeah. You expect to go with smiles and thumbs up and yeah there's some of that in the more...

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TOM: Yeah I have a really inappropriate...

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I took the selfie...

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You get to see the Chernobyl reactor

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you stand about 100m away, on the spot that tourists are allowed to be in

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you stand 100m away from the reactor that exploded

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And, ok...

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Its... I...

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And I just kinda instinctively smiled at the camera

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That... that felt wrong

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PAUL: It feels a little bit wrong but we are tourists, we are on a holiday of sorts

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and at the same time, everyone's Geiger counter's alarm's are going off

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which can't be muted so we're all beeping loudly and here we are with cheesy grins

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which does seem a little inappropriate but...

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TOM: We went past the red forest as well

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PAUL: Oh yeah

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TOM: We had to go through that at speed because even in a vehicle going by at speed your Geiger counter goes off

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because it's the forest down wind from the power plant

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so it basically sucked up all of the radioactivity and it's now, quite happily, emitting it again

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PAUL: Yeah, for whatever reason they didn't clear that particular bit.

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Maybe it just wasn't useful to them in their continued operations but uh...

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TOM: Cause they did continue that's the important thing

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The town wasn't abandoned immediately

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The other reactors kept going for a decade after. Something like that?

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PAUL: Yeah, mid 90s if I remember correctly

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TOM: It's an interesting place. There is a lot to see, although admittedly a lot of it is just, here's another abandoned building

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If that is your sort of thing, this would be wonderful

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PAUL: Technically yes but...

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TOM: No

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PAUL: Most of what you'll see online is exaggeration

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because it makes a good story

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and I'm not going to deny it, it really does make a good story

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if someone claims they've broken into the zone

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woah, brilliant!

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And they'll provide the photos, they'll provide a brilliant tale

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But then they start leaking really obvious information that you know they were on a tour

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because there are certain things that you have to have pointed out to you

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there would be no way you would find certain details within the zone unless you had a guide

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TOM: Yeah, and you are required to have a zone guide

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Like, not only would you have to somehow get past all the checkpoints

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which involves going through some radioactive forests

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PAUL: And into Pripyat centre you would have to go through 3?

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TOM: You'd have to go through three seperate checkpoints

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or avoid them

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You would have to not get picked up by any of the police that are patroling

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And you would have to know your way around anyway

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Yes, it's theoretically possible

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In practice, no I don't think many people have actually broken in

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TOM: If you follow your guide, if you don't do anything stupid, no it's not particularly dangerous

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You're not going to go into a high radiation area

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You're going to have a Geiger counter on just in case

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There's really not much that's dangerous there

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That said, the rules on what you can and cannot do, seem to change regularly

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And aren't always followed by different guides and different groups

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PAUL: Yeah, so this trip for example, the official guidance from mid-2012 was 'you're not allowed in buildings' and

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TOM: Everyone was in buildings

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PAUL: Everyone was in buildings. It's the most interesting thing

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You're obviously going to go in buildings

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We climbed to the top of one

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TOM: Yeah, we did. 16 floors up

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Which, again, not dangerous

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Guides knew it. We went up there

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PAUL: Don't get me wrong. The health and safety advice here is "don't hurt yourself"

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The roof was not well railed

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There was some of shin height rails to stop you obviously falling off but...

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you could still, if you wanted to be silly, you could and hurt yourself

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The lift shafts in that 16 story building were open

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TOM: They were open and there was a cord across, in front of one

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PAUL: Yeah, just in case...

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TOM: Just in case you wanted to, yeah...

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PAUL: Perfect

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TOM: Don't risk the tap water

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I can't say that you will get the screaming squits in the middle of somewhere where there are no toilets

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In a [laughs] in a nuclear accident zone

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But I wouldn't want to risk that if I were you

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Bottled water is cheap

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Everything here is cheap. How much was the beer here?

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PAUL: I just enjoyed 2 pints for £1

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TOM: Yeah, um. Cigarettes, if anyone out there is a smoker, is about 20 or 30p a pack

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It is, astonishingly cheap here

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How long that will remain is another matter

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TOM: I was going to say no

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PAUL: I'm going with yes

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TOM: What's your reasoning?

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PAUL: There's every now and then, and it happened in the tower that we climbed

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We turned a corner...

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A dark corridor...

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A bunch of postal boxes, a sort of pigeon's hole with colours...

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A gust of wind came along and they all creaked all at once

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And I though I saw something at the end of the corridor

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Kind of, mind snaps to a bit of a horror film situation

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TOM: Ok, maybe I just wasn't in a situation where that happened

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PAUL: Seconds later, absolutely fine

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TOM: Cause, I don't know. Middle of winter, dead of night

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If it gets cold and bleak and dark and rainy

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Yes I can absolutely see it. But we were here in mid summer

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It's a very odd place but I wouldn't say it's creepy

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PAUL: No, there's definitely a gravity

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which we've alluded to

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TOM: You'll have noticed that parts of it are staged as well

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There have been a lot of photographers along here before us and some of them are not quite as...

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Not quite as careful of leaving things untouched

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PAUL: No, there's not a single original shot to be had here and we're not going to pretend that there is

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I mean, we're going to try and do some. We've got a drone, that's pretty cool but even that's been done

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TOM: Cat!

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Cat! Cat!

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There's a cat

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TOM: Genuine...

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PAUL: The concerned looking cat is back

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TOM: Genuine Chernobyl cat. Hello cat!

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Say hello to people

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[meow]