The wave of Chinese micro-short dramas sweeps the UK: "fragmented" dramas born for the sliding era

Every night, Heather Sharrock sits down to watch her favorite series.

But it wasn't on Netflix, BBC iPlayer or even on TV, it was on her phone.

While some of us might be able to binge a few episodes of our latest binge-watch series every night, Heather can binge-watch dozens of them because the 55-year-old from Scotland is hooked on mini-series.

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."

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 nearly 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 "The Family" or "Dynasty."

How miniseries became a trend in the UK

Sun Huiming, a Chinese-born filmmaker, said such series emerged in China in the late 2010s and were originally adapted from online novels. They were cheap to produce and quick to shoot; for many viewers, they were a form of escapism.

Sarah-Jane Lunn, 46, from Doncaster, said the miniseries helped her get through difficult times in her life. "I was hooked right away. I didn't have to think too much," she said.

Jane 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 romantic fantasy fans, but now appeal to a much wider audience.

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 last year, and the number of viewers exceeded 800 million. But microseries are also popular in South Korea, India and the United States, and streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, Peacock and Disney+ have all announced plans to add microseries to their services.

In the UK, TattleTV, which claims to be the country's first dedicated mini-series app, launched earlier this year, while the Royal Television Society is hosting an industry symposium on mini-series this summer.

Companies are also hoping to capitalize on the micro-series boom, creating short-form branded ads for social media, including Jamie Oliver, The Co-op and Channel 4 TV's work with Sol de Janeiro.

Dramas that can be watched as "snacks"

Charlotte Brockenbrough of Welsh production company Spare Arrow says microseries need to be fast-paced to retain 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 why micro-short dramas are popular is that viewers can watch them in their spare time, so some analysts describe them as "snack content."

Dr. Tina Kendall, associate professor of film and media at Anglia Ruskin University, said micro-series also catered to the trend of audiences moving toward "casual, low-investment viewing that can be started and stopped 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 they would handle housework or administrative work while playing the short drama in the background.

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 costs £49 per year and DramaBox costs £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 settings." She also said that she was "tired of watching" the theme of billionaire CEOs.

Weirder titles include "I Adopted a Stolen Child," "My English Cowboy Crush" and "I Got 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 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, which they believe is because more plots are now written by American and British teams; they are also enthusiastic about the fact that micro-short dramas are gradually expanding into comedy, thriller and horror genres.

Fast, low-cost and "financially attractive"

Hayden Wakelin, founder of production company Black Swan, first heard about the miniseries through film industry sources earlier this year. "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.