Kevin Spacey says the 'water-cooler moment' is dead and calls for TV bosses to release shows all at once to satisfy 'box-set bingers'

• Actor says shows should be broadcast in a chunk to enable 'binge viewing'
• Starred in House of Cards which was released online by Netflix
• Spacey was delivering the prestigious MacTaggart Lecture in Edinburgh
  

By Hugo Gye

Published: 05:19 EST, 23 August 2013 | Updated: 13:10 EST, 23 August 2013

Warning: Kevin Spacey predicts that 'binge watching' will soon become the norm for television viewers

The days of the television cliffhanger could be over, according to Kevin Spacey, who has called on entertainment bosses to give viewers more 'control' over when and how they consume content.

For decades, programmes have teased viewers by ending episodes on dramatic moments, then making them wait for weeks or even months for the situation to be resolved.

But Mr Spacey suggested that the era of the 'water-cooler moment' was dead, and predicted that more series would in future be broadcast all at once rather than on a weekly basis.

The actor and director delivered his warning during the prestigious MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival last night.

He recently starred in House of Cards, an American remake of a British political drama which was broadcast online by Netflix, and has been nominated for an Emmy for his performance.

The show was released all at once, allowing viewers to 'binge' by watching the episodes without a break - and Mr Spacey suggested that this should be a model for producers in the future.

'Clearly the success of the Netflix model - releasing the entire season of House Of Cards at once - has proved one thing: the audience wants control,' he said.

'They want freedom. If they want to binge - as they've been doing on House Of Cards - then we should let them binge.'

The 54-year-old actor, who has won two Oscars, joked that fans had been approaching him on the street and saying: 'Thanks, you sucked three days out of my life.'

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Speech: Mr Spacey predicted the end of cliffhangers while delivering the MacTaggart Lecture in Edinburgh

If his predictions about the future direction of television come true, it will mark a serious change in the way shows are constructed.

In the days when viewers were forced to watch at a set time once a week, producers would raise interest by ending episodes with a tense, unresolved moment.

Perhaps the most famous cliffhanger of all came on the American soap Dallas, which in 1980 ended its third season with the shooting of principal villain J.R. Ewing.

Viewers had to wait eight months until the premiere of the fourth season to discover the identity of the gunman, providing fodder for conversation throughout the summer.

More recent programmes to have captured the audience's attention with cliffhangers include Doctor Who in Britain and Lost in the U.S.

Around 1.5million Britons have signed up for a subscription to Netflix, which streams films and terrestrial TV programmes online as well as hosting its own exclusive content.

In addition, the BBC has revealed a 38 per cent in people using its iPlayer on-demand service this year, with a total of 242million hits last month.

Classic: American soap Dallas saw one of the most famous cliffhangers of all time with the shooting of J.R. Ewing, pictured here third right

Modern: Programmes such as Doctor Who have kept the cliffhanger tradition alive until now

While many have accused the 'binging' culture of encouraging harmful habits, Mr Spacey said yesterday that it showed young people were still able to concentrate for an extended period of time.

'For years, particularly with the advent of the Internet, people have been griping about lessening attention spans,' he said.

'But if someone can watch an entire season of a TV series in one day, doesn’t that show an incredible attention span?

'When the story is good enough, people can watch something three times the length of an opera.'

He also suggested that the switch to online streaming could help rescue the entertainment industry from falling advertising revenue and internet piracy.

He said: 'Give people what they want, when they want it, in the form they want it in, at a reasonable price, and they'll more likely pay for it rather than steal it.'

Mr Spacey, who won the Oscar for Best Actor for American Beauty, and was named Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Usual Suspects, is now the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.