Hello and welcome to a special legacy encore episode.

While we take a short break, we're dipping back into the archive to revisit some of our favorite episodes.

And this is one of Peter's greatest hits.

So here we go then, the life and the legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev.

We'll let the episode speak for itself.

But before we do, here's a quick reminder that the full back catalogue is always there for you to explore.

Welcome to Legacy and our third episode on Mikhail Gorbachev.

When we left you at the end of episode two, Gorbachev had forged his reputation on the international stage.

A series of summits with President Reagan had been key in suggesting there might be an end to the Cold War

and the threat of nuclear Armageddon might be

receding. But at home, Gorbachev's popularity is slumping. His perestroika reforms, intended to revive

the ailing Soviet economy, have brought about economic chaos and a decline in the standard of living.

Even the two relative success stories of the Soviet economy have been badly hit.

A worldwide slump in the price of oil affects exports, and Gorbachev's curb on the sale of alcohol,

no matter how well-intentioned, has cost much-needed revenues as well as damaging national morale.

The last thing Gorbachev needs is a crisis out of his control.

But the unthinkable happens at 1.23 a.m. one spring weekend.

26th of April, 1986, Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Plippiat.

In front of a wide bank of glowing buttons, Sasha Akimov rotates a large silver dial.

Here's the whir of the control panel, the distant vibration of the reactor responding.

Beside him, Toptoonov's eyes dart between rows of gauges.

Nervously, he flips pages of the procedure manual.

...