By Laura Rutkowski, Staff Writer

From the middle of March to the middle of May, people spent an average of five hours and seven minutes in front of their TV, a third more than during the same period in 2019. This also happened to be the first nine weeks of lockdown. No one will ever be able to talk about 2020 without mentioning the thing, which is also responsible for TV viewers reaching “the kind of levels you’d normally see at Christmas”, said Justin Sampson, CEO of ratings body Barb, at a Royal Television Society Zoom event in June.

At the height of the pandemic, Brits spent 40% of their waking hours watching TV. We have all turned to trustworthy news sources for updates and we’ve sought comfort, distraction and escape in our favourite series, as well as in new ones. We could sum up the past 12 months in a number of words, but no one could argue that they have provided plenty of entertainment – from big dramas and reality TV to LOL-worthy comedies and pioneering ways of viewing sports and shows.