Netflix Suits success rare break for Meghan

After a bruising year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may be relieved to learn a TV show featuring Meghan was America’s most popular – 12-year-old legal drama Suits.

Meghan Markle in Suits. Picture: Shane Mahood/USA Network

After a bruising year for their business empire, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may be relieved to learn that a TV show featuring Meghan was America’s most popular.

The series in question, however, is not a product of the couple’s rumoured $US100m deal with Netflix, but Suits, the 12-year-old legal drama in which the future duchess made her name.

Reruns of the show, which starred Meghan as the ambitious paralegal Rachel Zane, have enjoyed a surprise resurgence this summer, dominating the streaming charts and setting record viewing figures.

In July alone, Suits drew 18 billion viewing minutes, according to ratings company Nielsen. That is despite its final episode having been broadcast in 2019.

Many reasons have been offered for the unexpected revival, but Travis Knox, associate professor of creative producing at California’s Chapman University, said the answer was simple – Netflix. “When it comes to streaming, there’s Netflix and then there’s everyone else,” he said, noting it was the most popular streaming service with more than 232 million global subscribers.

“Netflix has that secret sauce where they can take a show, put it out there and it just explodes.”

But why this show? TikTok trends inspired by Suits have fuelled the phenomenon, while viewers have suggested it benefited from a backlash against the concentration needed to watch “prestige TV” series such as Succession or Breaking Bad.

Suits, which ran for nine seasons, is frequently described as a perfect binge watch, delivering satisfying plots, sharp dialogue and likeable characters but also allowing its audience to do other things – such as cook dinner, answer emails or fold the laundry. Then there is the “Meghan factor”, or viewers watching due to the series’ royal links. Aaron Korsh, creator of Suits, says “there’s no doubt that there’s some curiosity” about her.

That’s good news for the Sussexes after a tough year. Their Spotify deal was brought to a premature end amid gripes over their lack of output. The Netflix deal was also said to be under threat, although the royals recently announced they have optioned romance novel Meet Me at the Lake for a potential film.

The Sunday Times