Netflix UK reveals biggest shows for ‘binge racing’

Marvel’s The Defenders was the most eagerly binged show on UK Netflix, according to a ranking released by the notorious secretive company.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, a highly-anticipated four-part revival of the early 2000s comedy drama, came in second in the list of 20 Netflix Originals which had the highest number of viewers who polished off the entire series within 24 hours of release.

Netflix is well-known for its refusal to share audience figures for its content, meaning the newly released list is one of the best official insights so far into which shows are a hit with subscribers.

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One figure the company did share reveals the extent to which “binge racing” has become normalised. A “staggering” 8.4 million Netflix viewers have consumed an entire series within 24 hours, The Independent reports.

So what else is on the list? The UK’s favourites overlap significantly with the US, with viewers on both sides of the Atlantic gripped by critically acclaimed originals like Stranger Things, Santa Clarita Diet and The Seven Deadly Sins.

However, a few cultural differences are evident in the lists. While Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Trailer Park Boys and Bojack Horseman were instant hits with British and American viewers alike, other comedies - such as Aziz Ansari’s Master of None - seemed to appeal mostly to a US audience.

Most notably, Fuller House, a revival of 1987-1995 sitcom Full House, was the second-most eagerly binged show on US Netflix. However, the show - best known for launching the Olsen twins’ careers as child stars - never developed a following in the UK, and the reboot does not make the UK Netflix top 20.

Gritty London-set crime drama Luther comes in at number six on the UK list, but does not appear at all on the US favourites, despite having developed an American fanbase thanks to the transatlantic appeal of star Idris Elba. Charlie Brooker’s dark sci-fi anthology Black Mirror met a similar fate.

Here are the Netflix Originals that UK viewers devoured fastest:

1. Marvel’s The Defenders

2. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

3. The Seven Deadly Sins

4. Santa Clarita Diet

5. Orange is the New Black

6. Luther

7. F is for Family

8. Trailer Park Boys

9. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

10. The Ranch

11. Atypical

12. Stranger Things

13. Love

14. BoJack Horseman

15. Black Mirror

16. Wet Hot American Summer

17. House of Cards

18. GLOW

19. Grace and Frankie

20. Marvel’s Daredevil