If you’ve read the news today (oh, boy!) and you (understandably) want to take refuge from reality for a some of (if not all of) next month, ShowMax has you covered.

South Africa’s own streaming media service has unveiled a pretty tasty line-up for April, including two brand news shows and a critically acclaimed, locally made series.

First up, ShowMax has bagged exclusive rights to broadcast The Young Pope,  HBO’s biopic of the first American pope, Pius XIII, played by Jude Law. If you’ve been following metacritic or sites such as The A.V. Club, you’ll know that critics have been falling over each other to lavish praise on this show, which follows the intrigue and, at times sinister, machinations in Vatican City.

Next up, is Marvel’s Agent Carter, the spin-off series from the movie, Captain America: The First Avenger. Set in World War II after the events of that movie, the overarching plot sees the titular character set out to clear Howard Stark (yes, Iron Man’s dad) of treason.

For local audiences, one of the most interesting additions is the first season of Die Boekklub, a fish out of water tale about a writer in a small town in the Karoo. It looks pretty saccharine, but hey it’s won several Saftas, so it’s worth checking out.

There are also a couple of new seasons from excellent shows such as Silicon Valley, Banshee and Once Upon A Time for viewers to binge-watch on. For my money the best addition is the first two seasons of Invader Zim, possibly the darkest cartoon about alien invasion that ever ushered forth from Nickolodean. Seriously, if you’ve never seen it, check it out.

For a full list of all the new content head over to ShowMax.

And now, Zim’s sidekick Gir can take us through his thoughts on the Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PsBxG8neok