As 2019 draws to a close and we prepare to enter a new decade, it’s clear that the last ten years of telly will be remembered as being the dawn of the box set era.
The proliferation of streaming services and catch up devices introduced the world to the concept of binge-watching, with Netflix the first to drop an entire series in one fell swoop back in 2013 with the launch of Orange Is The New Black and House of Cards.
The term “binge-watch” was chosen by Collins English Dictionary as its 2015 Word of the Year, so with that in mind we’ve crunched the numbers to find out which shows you’ve been watching over the last twelve month.
Read more: The best TV shows of 2019
From millions of searches on Yahoo, these were the ten TV box sets people in the UK were looking up online in 2019.
10. GLOW (Netflix)
GLOW: Looking back at the glorious second season
The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling took their show to Vegas in the third season of Netflix’s hit comedy-drama created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, and it proved to be another knock-out hit. A fourth and final season has been commissioned, with Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Marc Maron, and that killer soundtrack, all set to return for one last round of action.
9. Star Trek: Discovery (Netflix/CBS All Access)
L-R: Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou), and Christopher Pike (Ansel Mount). (Netflix)
After a rocky start in its debut season, Discovery hit warp speed in its second season. Although S2 saw the return of classic characters Spock and Captain Pike, Sonequa Martin-Green continued to shine as the series protagonist Michael Burnham, and will return for a third season. Star Trek’s revival continues in 2020 with Patrick Stewart in Picard.
8. Vikings (Amazon Prime/History)
Pillaging and mohican hairdos are all the rage in this mud-filled series (Sky)
The first part of the sixth and final series of Vikings is airing now, with new episodes added weekly to Amazon Prime. The latest season focuses on Alexander Ludwig’ King Bjorn as he reigns over Kattegat, and Ivar the Boneless’ (Alex Høgh Andersen) adventures in Rus.
7. Big Little Lies (Now TV/HBO)
The second season of ‘Big Little Lies’ added Meryl Streep to its outstanding ensemble cast. (Credit: HBO)
Meryl Streep joined the star-studded cast of Big Little Lies for the second season, where she wreaked havoc with the families of Monterey, California, as her son’s death at the end of the first season came under scrutiny from local police.
Read more: The most complained about TV shows of the decade
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz, Big Little Lies put the premium into prestige TV.
6. The Walking Dead (Now TV/AMC)
Now in its tenth season, the post-apocalyptic zombie drama continues to draw big audiences despite losing its star Andrew Lincoln, who will return for three feature films based on the comic book series. Set after the massacre during the community’s fair the season focuses on the united communities and their plan to end the threat of the Whisperers.
5. Sex Education (Netflix)
This teen comedy drama proved to be Netflix’s most talked about original series of the year and a second helping is coming early 2020. Starring Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson as a sexually awkward son and his sex therapist mother, Netflix says over 40 million viewers streamed the charming and painfully funny first series after it launched.
4. The Handmaid’s Tale (Channel 4/Hulu)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
While some might find the dystopian drama too bleak, or too close to home for comfort, its passionate fans were finally rewarded with some catharsis in the third season earlier this year.
Read more: The most searched for movies of 2019
There’s a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel finally for Elisabeth Moss’s June as a revolution begins to brew in Gilead. A fourth season is already in production.
3. Stranger Things (Netflix)
Millie Bobby Brown and co in Stranger Things S3. (Netflix)
The crown jewel in Netflix’s original programming returned for a third season in 2019, and the 1980s-set horror thriller was compulsive viewing for its fans. Maya Hawke proved to be a compelling addition to the already-excellent show, which set its latest season in the height of the summer in the Hawkins mall. Fans are already dissecting clues of where its fourth season might take the teenagers next.
2. Chernobyl (Now TV/HBO)
Liquidators had to clear the incredibly radioactive debris from the roof by hand. (HBO)
Exploding onto TVs in the wake of the last episode of Game of Thrones, HBO’s big budget miniseries Chernobyl arrived at precisely the right moment. Retelling the story of the 1986 nuclear disaster, Craig Mazin’s five-part series was a devastatingly timeless look at the price of lies, and its very human cost. It won Emmys for Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Writing.
1. Game of Thrones (Now TV/HBO)
Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington in Game of Thrones (Credit: HBO)
There’s never been another show like HBO and Sky Atlantic’s Game of Thrones and there likely never will be again, so it’s unsurprising that the show’s eighth and final season was the most searched-for show on Yahoo in 2019. Although divisive with fans of the series, the culmination of eight years of storytelling was always going to be must-watch telly, and it dominated the conversation online and offline for months.
