Stars say Fallout TV show brought games to life

Another TV show based on a video game has landed... and critics say it's great. Is the world ending?

It certainly is in Fallout - the adaptation of the post-apocalyptic role-playing game currently earning rave reviews.

The series weaves together the stories of three characters striving to survive in a world ravaged by nuclear bombs.

And BBC Newsbeat spoke to two of the actors behind them - Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten - to find out more.

The Fallout games are set 200 years after a nuclear war leaves the Earth a wasteland, as players navigate the new world and the different factions that live within it.

Ella plays Lucy MacLean, a vault dweller raised underground in a protective bunker.

"She comes from a long line of people that were taught and that believe it is their duty to procreate and create the next generation of Americans who will one day go up to the surface and rebuild America after the nuclear war that happened," says Ella.

"She's very innocent and sheltered and naïve. But I will say there is more to her than meets the eye."

Aaron, meanwhile, plays Maximus, a member of the Brotherhood of Steel - one of the Fallout world's tribal communities that live outside in the wastelands.

Aaron says the group "worships old world tech" - relics of the 1950s when the bombs destroyed the world.

"Whatever they can find in the wasteland, they sort of collect for themselves," he says.

"And they feel like that makes them powerful. And that's kind of what they project outwardly.

"The success of survival, that they are a powerful, group of guys who also wield things called power armour."

Power armour - mech-style battle suits - are one of the series' signature features, and often appear on the covers of the games.

Fans went crazy for preview shots featuring the elaborate costumes released late last year, and Aaron says the attention to detail was a key feature of the £150m production.

He tells Newsbeat the show's director Jonathan Nolan - brother of Oppenheimer director Christopher - used lots of practical effects rather than computer-generated imagery to create Fallout's world.

And he believes viewers will feel the benefit when they watch the Amazon Prime show.

"That feeds the creative process for everyone involved, to work with something that we can actually see and use and walk around in.

"You know, it's not a tennis ball.

"Or a bloke in a green leotard," says Ella, referring to another common technique used to create CGI sequences.

Critics have praised the Amazon Prime show's sense of fun, with the Guardian calling it an "absolute blast" in its five-star review.

Some, like the Telegraph, said its comedic ultra-violence might put some viewers off, but praised its "over-the-top action".

And video game website IGN said the show was an "all-time great" that rivals last year's much-praised Last of US TV show.

It's a much warmer reception than Amazon's mega-budget The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power received.

And the streamer will likely be hoping that viewers will stick with Fallout to the end, which reports suggested was not the case with its JRR Tolkien-inspired epic.

But one thing you might not want to do, is live with Ella in a real apocalypse.

"I would ban the vault suits," she says, referring to the blue jumpsuit her character wears.

"I think we should be a bit more experimental and maybe like, make our own clothes, do fancy dress.

"Something like fancy dress Fridays, make it fun."

Ella admits that some people might find that annoying.

"It'd be too much. Too much," she says.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.