Two huge British TV shows were in the top 10 most searched terms in the UK in 2024.
One series is Fool Me Once, a thriller adapted by Danny Brocklehurst from Harlan Coben’s 2016 novel of the same name.
It features a star-studded cast including Michelle Keegan, 37, Adeel Akhtar, 44, Dino Fetscher, 36, Richard Armitage, 53, and Joanna Lumley, 78.
The show premiered in January and as of March 31, it is the seventh most-viewed English Netflix series to date.
Meanwhile, another popular series is Baby Reinde=eer, drama based on a struggling comedian who shows one act of kindness to a vulnerable woman. However, it sparks a suffocating obsession which threatens to wreck both their lives.
The miniseries was released on Netflix in April, and since its release, it has gone on to win six Primetime Emmy Awards.
British TV series Fool Me Once come second place in the top 10 most searched terms in the UK in 2024 (Michelle Keegan pictured)
Meanwhile, Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer beat it to the punch by placing first (Richard and Jessica Gunning pictured)
Fool Me Once ranked second on the top 10 most searched terms in the UK while Baby Reindeer beat it to the punch by placing first.
Within its first week, Fool Me Once starring Coronation Street’s Michelle was watched by over 37. 1 million Netflix accounts with over 238 million hours watched, one of the largest debuts of Netflix.
All eight episodes appeared in the BARB top 50 most-viewed programmes of the week, with the opening episode attracting 6.34 million viewers.
And during the National Television Awards, Michelle was nominated for Drama Performance while the show was nominated for New Drama.
The series follows Maya (Michelle) a mother trying to come to terms with the brutal murder of her husband Joe.
However, she gets quite the shock when she sees her husband on her new nanny cam which she installed to keep an eye on her daughter.
Meanwhille, Baby Reindeer, which was created by Richard Gadd, 35, debuted at number five on Netflix’s top 10 TV English тιтles at the beginning of April, with 10.4 million hours viewed.
Within its first week Fool Me Once starring Coronation Street’s Michelle Keegan was watched by over 37. 1 million Netflix accounts (Michelle and Richard Armitage pictured)
Meanwhille, Baby Reindeer, which was created by Richard Gadd, 35, debuted at number five on Netflix’s top 10 TV English тιтles at the beginning of April, with 10.4 million hours viewed
Then on the following week, the series climbed to number one garnering 52.8 million viewing hours (Richard and Nava Mau pictured)
Then on the following week, the series climbed to number one garnering 52.8 million viewing hours.
The series received critical acclaim on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with 98% of 58 critics giving the series a positive review.
The series follows Donny’s warped relationship with a female stalker named Martha and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deep, dark buried trauma.
The show which was directed by Weronika Tofilska and Josephine Bornebusch, features a star-studded cast including Jessica Gunning, Nina Sosanya, and Nava Mau.
It comes after Baby Reindeer’s real-life Martha was given the green light to ‘sue Netflix for libel’ after a judge gave a key ruling.
A judicial order obtained by PEOPLE determined that Richard’s hit TV show could be portrayed as a ‘true story’, meaning Fiona Harvey could launch a defamation lawsuit against the streaming service.
The court disagreed with Netflix that they had created a fictional story as many of the details of the series were factual, along with a text that starts the show which reads: ‘This is a true story.’
Fiona, who says the lead character Martha’s life is based on her own, has denied key parts of the show are true, including going to prison or court.
She ᴀsserts that she never stalked Richard, did not Sєxually ᴀssault him, nor was she ever convicted of stalking.
The series follows Donny’s warped relationship with a female stalker named Martha (Jessica pictured) and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deep, dark buried trauma
Judge Gary Klausner said in his order that ‘there is a major difference between stalking and being convicted of stalking in a court of law,’ ‘inappropriate touching and Sєxual ᴀssault’ and ‘shoving and gouging,’ when comparing the experiences Richard had with Fiona and that of the one seen on screen with Martha, according to PEOPLE.
It was previously revealed exclusively in the Mail that the show’s writer, Richard, who plays himself and based the premise on his own experiences, told makers Clerkenwell Films that his stalker was never convicted.
Sources indicate that Richard told Clerkenwell that the stalker was the subject of an ‘exclusion order’ – a civil order and not the same as a criminal conviction of stalking.
This means that the show was always a fictionalised dramatisation – though it went out under a banner which read ‘this is a true story’.
The comedian did admit that some parts of the story were changed ‘slightly to create dramatic climaxes.’
It’s not clear how Clerkenwell Films described the situation to Netflix, or what compliance procedures were undertaken.
He added: ‘It’s very emotionally true, obviously: I was severely stalked and severely abused. But we wanted it to exist in the sphere of art, as well as protect the people it’s based on.’
It comes after Baby Reindeer’s real-life Martha was given the green light to ‘sue Netflix for libel’ after a judge gave a key ruling
Fiona Harvey, who says lead character Martha’s life (Jessica pictured) is based on her own, denies ever going to prison or court, as the show portrays
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Netflix had asked for the lawsuit to be thrown out in July on the basis that ‘a reasonable person would not understand the statements [regarding Harvey] to be ᴀssertions of fact.’
However, the judge disagreed saying: ‘The very first episode states unequivocally that ‘this is a true story,’ thereby inviting the audience to accept the statements as fact.’
Fiona had filed the lawsuit on June 6 and had asked for over $170 million in damages, as she claimed that she faced a lot of harᴀssment after the show was aired.
As a result, Fiona claimed she planned to sue the show for defamation, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of right of publicity, among other charges.
