THE STAND

A slight sense of déjà vu

Hands up who wants to watch a nine-episode drama about the aftermath of a pandemic in which a flu-like virus – the first symptom is a persistent cough – wipes out 99 per cent of the world’s population? The timing is perhaps not the best for this adaptation of Stephen King’s huge novel. The few survivors of the virus, who appear to be immune to it, split into two factions, one led by the mysterious but kindly Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg) and the other by the satanic Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård) and we get a standard King-style battle between good and evil. Heather Graham (right) co-stars. StarzPlay, from today