Binge-watching TV series is tempting, but does it always provide the best entertainment?

How many times have you tuned in to watch just one episode of a TV series only to find yourself still on the sofa three hours later, immersed in the lives, loves and lessons of imagined worlds, characters and circumstances, any worries temporarily put to one side? It’s intriguing that TV, whether familiar or fantastical, can have this effect, that it can on occasion actually ease real-life tension even as the on-screen drama ramps up. Could this explain why half of the 5,500 respondents to a 2019 survey conducted by RadioTimes.com revealed they’d bingewatched eight hours of a show in one sitting and 80 per cent admitted to sacrificing sleep to view even more?

It’s an escapist activity that’s become more accessible with the proliferation of streaming platforms and catch-up services. But that doesn’t mean people weren’t already partaking. It’s just that media networks have made it much easier. Whether it’s appropriate for shows to be on demand 24/7 and the effect it might have on viewers is sometimes forgotten. Entertainment is, after all, the name of the game. Yet some would argue that experiencing a series fully immersed, versus coming up for air between episodes, can affect its impact on the viewer.

Firstly, however, it’s helpful to understand why viewers can become hooked. Neuroscientist and author Dean Burnett says serialised shows, for example, a traditional six-by-one-hour format, are compelling in and of themselves because the brain likes finishing things – tying loose ends, dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. These series tantalise the brain. He explains how ‘several experiments have shown humans will complete an unfinished task even if they’re told they don’t need to and won’t receive any reward for completion’. This could shed some light on why viewers stay tuned in for hours, because simply knowing that there’s more to watch tempts them deeper into a fictional world, and reaching the end is sometimes all that’s needed to make the experience feel worthwhile.