“There are so many shifting things in our lives – eight prime ministers, losing celebrity doctors, nothing feels fixed and more,” he argues. “People grasp for anchor points that are not going anywhere and are part of their lives. It’s very reassuring to watch the bread being baked and delivered to the supermarket – it’s almost like a kid’s story. It makes something that’s familiar seem even more familiar.”
Taylor’s company was commissioned to make a series of one-off films on the UK’s supermarkets and high street chains by Channel 5 – there’s Costco at Christmas; 24 Hours in Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose; How Do They Really Do It? Costa; and Grace Dent’s double-header Inside Greggs 24/7 and Greggs: What’s Really in It? These went out as one-offs at 7pm on Channel 5 and the rights returned to Honeybee who sold the shows on to Netflix. Costco at Christmas and 24 Hours in Tesco both did well, but Lidl hit the top 10 in the first week of release.
Is Netflix’s fiendish algorithm – the tech that won’t stop recommending, say, Emily In Paris after you clicked on it once by accident – to blame for the film’s sudden success? One company insider insists not. “Look, no-one has yet invented an algorithm that can make people watch crap they don’t want to,” he said. “Basically if people start to watch a show and it looks like it’s popping, the algo picks that up and pushes it out there but it is purely audience-led.” (The same insider, however, has no idea why Netflix considers 24 Hours in Lidl a film.)
Tom Harrington, analyst at Enders Analysis, says that the film’s success is not an isolated incident. “Rich House Poor House from Channel 5 was very high up in the charts a few weeks ago,” he explains. “It’s akin to YouTube where things
get virality – intense viewing at particular times. Netflix acquisitions are actually very well-targeted these days. They used to buy loads of stuff which would disappear but gradually they’re buying fewer shows and choosing the ones they know they’re going to do well as they learn what works on the platform – which isn’t the same as what works in linear TV. There is method behind the acquisition.”
Disappointingly if unsurprisingly, 24 Hours in Lidl is not a global smash like Baby Reindeer even if one of its contributors, the stand-up comic Olaf Falafel took to social media to crow “Move over Baby Reindeer!” after the film first hit number two.