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SHARP TEETH: It’s no surprise that the BBC has confirmed that it will adapt The Mirror and the Light, the final book in Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, although it hasn’t said whether the magnificent Mark Rylance will once again breathe life into the opaque, brilliant blacksmith’s son from Putney. It will be a while until we see that adaptation, but Wolf Hall, based on Mantel’s first two Cromwell books, is one series that bears re-watching; even better, it is now available for free on TVNZ OnDemand. tvnz.co.nz/shows/wolf-hall
IT’S ALL GOOD: Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan famously transformed Walter White from “Mr Chips to Scarface” and now Jimmy McGill’s transformation from scam artist to, well, scam artist with a law degree is almost complete. Season five of Better Call Saul has begun on Lightbox and Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk), who has changed his name to Saul Goodman (a play on “it’s all good, man”), is well on his way to representing every criminal in Albuquerque. Meanwhile, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) is on the rise.
BAD TIMING: Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak on Netflix may seem to have eerily prescient timing, but its producers were working on it long before Covid-19; they could just see what was coming. We were due for a new, fast-moving virus, it begins, it’s not a matter of if, but when. “We hoped to inform before, not after, another dangerous pathogen emerged,” executive producer Sheri Fink tweeted. For tips on the coming apocalypse, Netflix also has one season of Doomsday Preppers.