TV bingeing is out? I’ve just worked out how to sign in
As is the way with all vogues, we oldsters are embracing box-set bingeing just as the young have started to tire of it. Research by media analysts Midia reveals that the proportion of over-55s who say they regularly gorge on several episodes in one great bout has almost doubled in a year, with almost a third of us ’fessing up to telly benders. And that’s before the latest series of
The Crown hits Britain (Sunday November 17, people).
Millennials are said to be feeling overwhelmed at all the choice on offer, as Apple and Disney plot streaming platforms to rival the hulking archives offered by Netflix (32,600 hours) and Amazon (22,600 hours). Or maybe it’s just that we frosty tops have finally mastered how these bloody sign-up services work? Either way, companies are
increasingly keen to embroil older viewers with hits such as the septuagenarian sitcom Grace & Frankie.
My latest elderly obsession is HBO’S Succession, created by the genius Jesse Armstrong, the chap who co-wrote Peep Show, Fresh Meat and much of The
Thick of It. As ever with these things, it lurked at the back of my brain for a while, only I kept forgetting the title, the provider, and my own name. Anyway, I am midway through the first-season finale – another series to come – and the only thing stopping me from caning the lot is my need to earn a living; and then only just.
This tale of the Roy family takes a couple of episodes to warm up, after which it’s all fabulous egotists enmeshed in dazzling dark comedy. There’s a Shakespearean weight to the drama with an Austen-esque feel for the supporting cast, not least Blighty’s sterling Matthew Macfadyen as the craven Tom Wambsgans. As with Kieran Culkin’s monstrous, runty Roman Roy, Wambsgans is as heartbreaking as he is repulsive. I adore the costumes, the theme tune with the earworming dynastic gusto of Prokofiev’s Dance of
the Knights, and the cracking running gag about the oldest son’s girlfriend being part of the oldest profession.
The only fault I can find with it is when a character misquotes Larkin, which I believe now was deliberate. My advice? Binge away.