New series of Fleabag will be released weekly as BBC decides against boxset

Fleabag, one of the most bingeworthy TV shows of 2016, is to return next month – but viewers will have to wait a week for each new episode after the BBC decided against releasing the show in a boxset format despite a renewed bid to attract younger audiences.

The show, written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge alongside Olivia Colman, was a word-of-mouth hit when it first appeared on iPlayer in 2016, after being commissioned by the online-only BBC Three strand. Since then many BBC Three shows, including last year’s hit drama Killing Eve, have been released in box set formats – copying the likes of Netflix by allowing the public to watch an entire series in their own time.

However, the broadcaster has instead decided that new episodes will appear on BBC One every Monday night at 10.35pm – the first beneficiary of the controversial decision to cut the length of the News of Ten in a bid to attract a younger audience to the channel.

The BBC is trying to balance the desire to entice younger viewers by making content available as and when they want it, while also trying to find ways to attract them to its flagship channels. As a compromise, each episode of Fleabag will also be released on iPlayer at 10pm, shortly before it is shown on BBC One.

According to the BBC, the first episode of the new series will feature an “uncomfortable family dinner to celebrate Godmother and Dad’s engagement” with the lead character “intrigued by Godmother’s new Priest”.

The average age of a BBC One viewer is now in their 60s, while figures by Enders Analysis suggest that the average time spent by 16- to 34-year-olds watching live TV broadcasts has fallen by 13% in the last year alone as they switch to streaming services.

In an attempt to head off this threat, the BBC is in a dispute with Ofcom over its right to upload entire series all at once. At the moment many shows are only available on the catch-up service for 30 days after original broadcast and the BBC had hoped to change this and make more content available for longer.

Instead, the media regulator has raised concerns that such a move could hurt commercial catch-up services produced by ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It forced the BBC to consult on its proposed changes and postpone any implementation.

However, in the case of Fleabag, the corporation confirmed its decision to release episodes on a weekly basis was unrelated to the Ofcom ruling.

The show is a co-production between the BBC and Amazon, which will have the rights to show it on its streaming service outside the UK.