The writer of hit television programme Chernobyl has urged Instagram users to stop taking lewd and inappropriate selfies at the site of the disaster.

In the wake of the popularity of the show, tourists have flocked to the nuclear disaster site — with some taking the opportunity to strike "disrespectful" poses in photographs, and even strip to their underwear.

One picture shows a woman letting a hazard suit fall to her waist, exposing her bra as she flicks her hair in the wind. Another shows a woman dressed as a nuclear scientist posing in the middle of the control room of the destroyed unit 4 of the Chernobyl power plant.

Many others have taken selfies while holding Geiger counters, and one picture shows a young woman posing in an abandoned bus.

In the weeks following the explosion in 1986, 29 firefighters and power plant workers died of acute radiation syndrome, and two of injuries.