Apocalypse game on

10 shows to watch JAMES WIGNEY, NATIONAL TELEVISION REVIEWER, SHARES HIS PICKS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Top pick FALLOUT THURSDAY, PRIME VIDEO Following in the footsteps of The Last Of Us comes this big-budget adaptation of a much loved video game. From the makers of Westworld, Fallout is also set in a post-Apocalyptic nightmare – although one ravaged by the irradiated aftermath of a nuclear war rather than fungus-infused zombies – and has done a terrific job of world-building that provides a spectacular backdrop for its oddball characters, huge action set pieces and deft balance of humour, drama and extreme violence. The story focuses on Ella Purnell’s Lucy, who has been raised as one of the privileged few in vast underground bunkers known as Vaults, but must venture out into blasted Wastelands, setting up conflict between the haves and have-nots. There she discovers that life is cheap and mutants are plentiful as she encounters the mysterious lawmakers, The Brotherhood of Steel, and Walter Goggins’ seemingly immortal gunslinger The Ghoul. Purnell says: “It somehow manages to balance the light and the dark ... to make the apocalypse funny. They are making a social commentary while keeping you on your toes and making you look at pretty things.”

WHITE FEVER WEDNESDAY, 9PM, ABC Korean-Australian adoptee Jane has a definite type in men and, as her friend points out, they are of “the caucasian persuasion” – and the hairier and the blokier the better. Creator Ra Chapman, of Wentworth fame, drew on her own experiences of being adopted from South Korea at the age of four and growing up denying her heritage. Her fictional alter ego Jane is horrified to learn her “white meat” fetish is masking deeper...