image copyrightSpare Arrow
Every night, Heather Sharrock sits down to watch her favorite episodes.
But it wasn't on Netflix, BBC iPlayer or even on TV, it was on her phone.
While some of us may binge a few episodes of our latest favorites every night, Heather can binge-watch dozens of them because the 55-year-old Scottish woman is obsessed with microdrama.
Heather said: "There are so many messy things happening in the world right now. It feels good to be able to relax for a while and not think about those things."
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Microseries, already hugely popular in China, are becoming increasingly popular in the UK and can be watched on apps such as ReelShort, CandyJar and DramaBox. Last week's announcement that the classic soap opera Neighbors would be re-edited into ultra-short, straight-format episodes was one of the latest signs that the format is becoming more mainstream.
Microseries consists of short episodes that are fast-paced and full of tension. Each episode is usually 60 to 90 seconds long. Many of the shows focus on themes such as forbidden love, family feuds and billionaires hiding their identities, and almost every episode ends with a dramatic cliffhanger. Each work usually has 50 episodes or more, so the total length is similar to a feature-length film.
Diane Aitken, a 45-year-old movie fan from Scotland, describes her favorite miniseries about werewolves and vampires as "enhanced versions" of the 1980s American soap operas "Dallas" ("Dallas") or "Dynasty" ("Dynasty").
image copyrightDiane Aitken and Sarah-Jayne Lunn
How miniseries became a trend in the UK
Samantha Sun, a Chinese-born filmmaker, said such series emerged in China in the late 2010s, originally adapted from online novels, and were cheap to produce and quick to shoot; for many viewers, they were a form of escapism.
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Sarah-Jayne Lunn, 46, from Doncaster, said the miniseries helped her get through a difficult period in her life. "I was hooked right away. I didn't have to think too much," she said.
Jen Cooper is a viewer of micro-short dramas and currently works as an industry consultant. She agrees. She said microseries were initially popular mainly with middle-aged women looking for love-themed content and were watched by many BookTok and romantasy enthusiasts, but now appeal to a much wider audience.
image copyrightMa Jian/VCG via Getty Images
According to data from the State Administration of Radio and Television of China, the size of China’s micro-short drama market exceeded 100 billion yuan (US$13.89 billion; NT$420 billion) last year, and the number of viewers exceeded 800 million. But micro-series are also popular in South Korea (South Korea), India and the United States, and streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, Peacock and Disney+ have all announced plans to add micro-series to their services.
In the UK, TattleTV, which claims to be the country's first dedicated micro-short drama app, was launched earlier this year; the Royal Television Society (RTS) is holding an industry symposium on micro-short dramas this summer.
Companies are also hoping to capitalize on the micro-series boom by creating short-form branded ads for social media, including Jamie Oliver, Co-op and Channel 4 in partnership with Sol de Janeiro.
Dramas that can be watched as "snacks"
Charlotte Brokenbrow of Welsh production company Spare Arrow said miniseries had to be fast-paced to keep the audience's attention. The company produced its first micro-short series this year.
She said: "If there is too much white space in the script and film, the audience will get bored and drift away."
In addition to the fast pace, one of the reasons for the popularity of micro-short dramas is that viewers can watch them in fragmented time, so some analysts describe them as "snackable content" (fragmented content).
Dr Tina Kendall, associate professor of film and media at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said that micro-series also caters to the audience's trend towards "casual, low-investment, and can start and stop watching at any time".
Some interviewees told the BBC that they would watch it in the car when picking up their children from school; others said that they would play the short drama in the background while doing housework or administrative work.
Sarah-Jayne says she can even watch it while working because the storylines are often "so predictable".
Specialized mini-series apps often let users watch the first few episodes for free, then require a paid subscription. CandyJar has an annual fee of £49 (US$66; RMB 475; NT$1,960), while DramaBox charges £110. However, most micro-drama platforms allow viewers to purchase weekly subscription services or watch ads in exchange for free episodes.
As you browse these apps, themes like gang bosses, happy enemies-turned-lovers, and cowboys pop up again and again.
Sun Huiming said that Chinese production companies often copy successful formulas with only minor changes, and Heather feels the same way.
She said: "A lot of it is actually the same story, just with different background settings." She also said that she was "tired of watching" the theme of billionaire CEOs.
Bizarre titles include "I Adopted My Stolen Baby," "Craving My British Cowboy" and "Found a Homeless Billionaire Husband for Christmas."
Some viewers said that some of the plots were demeaning to women, and some of the works crudely depicted violence and sexual assault. Actor Coco Taylor, who will star in the first miniseries in 2024, said: "It even became a joke. The actress had encountered countless terrible things and cried tens of millions of times before she had lunch."
Taylor said she has turned down certain productions because she thought they were too misogynistic. However, she and many fans of micro-short dramas say that the quality of stories has improved. They believe this is because more plots are now written by American and British teams; they are also enthusiastic about the gradual expansion of micro-short dramas into comedy, thriller and horror genres.
image copyrightBlack Swan Verticals
Fast, low-cost and "financially attractive"
Haydn Wakeling, founder of production company Black Swan, first heard about the miniseries earlier this year through people in the film industry. "Fast forward to now and it's become a topic that everyone is talking about," he said.
From a financial perspective, Wakelin said microseries are very attractive to directors and producers. It usually takes less than two weeks to shoot a mini-drama that lasts between 60 and 90 minutes, so the cost can be effectively reduced.
Director Dan Löwenstein directed his first miniseries "Mafia Lover" in February 2024, and he has now filmed his 38th one. He initially worked on productions commissioned by Chinese app platforms, but said he is now working with U.S. platforms, global streaming media and British companies as the Chinese industry shifts toward artificial intelligence (AI) production.
The UK is now Europe's largest audience market for micro-short dramas. While many viewers and industry producers are excited about the future of the format, it also has its critics.
Some people ridicule micro-short dramas as low-quality content that will destroy people's concentration. The author of an opinion piece in The Guardian described the series as "catastrophically stupid and objectively low quality".
But as viewer-turned-consultant Jane Cooper says: “No one is going to say it’s a profound piece of work, but if it resonates with someone emotionally, makes someone smile, or makes a difficult day just a little bit easier, then that’s certainly a beautiful thing worth celebrating.”
This article was originally written in English. We used artificial intelligence to assist in translation and was reviewed by BBC journalists before publication. Learn more about how we use artificial intelligence.
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