Watchmen has been screening on Fox Showcase for a few weeks now.

The series takes its inspiration from an iconic comic book series of the same name, where superheroes exist, but they've been banned as vigilantees.

The TV series isn't a reboot of the series (or of the 2009 film either) rather a look at that world 34 years down the line.

So while it's set in 2019, it's very much an alternate reality.

That's partly why I figured the opening scenes of the first episode was made up.

It showed a 1921 black community in Tulsa being attacked by white people armed with weapons.

They even had planes flying overhead and dropping bombs on people.

The show sets up an alternate reality, so this surely had to be fake, right?

If there really had been a neighbourhood destroyed by rifle-wielding thugs - who had access to aircraft, for God's sake - I was sure I would have heard something about it.

But it wasn't fake. The Tulsa race riot of 1921 that those opening scenes show was very real.

Including the fact that they had planes swooping from the sky and bombing black homes and businesses.

Upwards of 300 people were killed in the 16 hours of rioting, which destroyed 35 blocks and started after a 19-year-old black shoeshiner by the name of Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a 17-year-old white girl.

Those first scenes of Watchmen were so shocking that it inspired me to track down a few books on the race riot to educate myself.

As for the rest of Watchmen, it's incredibly gripping - but you have to give it your full attention.

It's one of those shows that doesn't try to spoon feed you all the information you need to know.

Instead it just lets the characters get on with things and trust that you'll keep up.

When you start watching, you might start out asking a whole lot of questions - such as "hey, why are the cops wearing yellow masks?" - but the show will let you know in due course.

So just sit back and enjoy.