Millions of film and TV fans are waking up to the wonders of streaming: Tony Earnshaw

Jack Black (left) and movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg. (PA).Jack Black (left) and movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg. (PA).
Jack Black (left) and movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg. (PA). | pa
When the news is dominated by Covid-19 and the wider world has become the confines of four walls it seems millions are waking up to the wonders of streaming.

Enforced lockdown could mean slowly going stir crazy. Or, conversely, it could mean wallowing in content and programming that is rapidly becoming readily available.

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The UK launch last month of video on-demand service Disney+ can’t have come at a more opportune time. Suddenly people with time on their hands due to current restrictions can access 500 movies and 350 series. That has to be an antidote to all the grimness. People are signing up in their thousands.

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Other people are seeking (and finding) solace in familiarity. Some have spoken of rediscovering TV shows and series from the 60s, 70s and 80s that they had long forgotten but which connect to good memories and, one assumes, happier times.

It was the Oscar-winning actress Simone Signoret who titled her memoirs Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be yet for those cooped up finding a link to a quality memory is a genuine tonic. My neighbours are wallowing in classic telly, legendary gigs and sporting fixtures from days when sporting fixtures were actually taking place. Over the garden hedge the other day one neighbour said they were actually enjoying the lockdown.

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Hmmm... That’s not quite the word I’d use. Enduring is perhaps more appropriate. But whilst we’re all in our private bubbles it’s right and logical to find a pragmatic way forward.

And whilst everyone else is scrabbling for the remote to access something on a streaming platform I find myself reaching – yes! – for physical media be it a book, a CD or a DVD. A friend down south even plays old VHS tapes.

The other odd phenomenon that has manifested itself is that people are opting to watch virus movies such as Contagion or Outbreak.

I reckon there’s enough madness, badness and sadness in our situation to avoid that sort of entertainment. If you want my advice, keep that outside and at a distance. Find the fun stuff instead.