Killing Eve's second season might still be going out weekly in the UK – on Saturday nights, BBC One – but the entire eight-episode run has also been available on BBC iPlayer since June 8.

That means that, for a legion of fervent, binge-watching fans, they've been waiting almost an entire month for more – and that's JUST. TOO. LONG.

The good news is that a third season of Killing Eve is coming to the UK, with the BBC announcing way back in April that it had acquired the next batch of episodes. But even this announcement was met with a mixed response from fans, who were eager for the next season to air as soon as possible.

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Please simulcast with BBC America this time 😂 — Andy (@simulatorandy) July 2, 2019

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Please air it the same time as usa?? — eleni🌺 (@halfemptygurl) July 2, 2019

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Please this time broadcast it when it's on BBC America too. — Marieke (@Mriek_today) July 2, 2019

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This time come to an agreement with BBC America with Airing it on the same night as them! Because honestly the amount of people I knew who had already watched it before he UK premiere was crazy! Might help with viewing figures 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 — Thomas Chapman (@Tom_Chappy_man) July 2, 2019

Despite these pleas, in all likelihood the third season of Killing Eve will premiere in the UK a long while after it's launched Stateside, just as the first two seasons did: the show first aired on BBC America in April 2018 and didn't cross the Atlantic until September, while season two launched in the US in April this year and didn't air in the UK for another two months.

Why? And why is this trend likely to continue?

It's all to do with binge-watching and 'box-set culture': the BBC is looking to transform iPlayer from a simple catch-up service to a streaming platform that can compete with the likes of Netflix.

Part of that involves extending the period of availability for certain shows to up to 12 months ("Great news for audiences in a world where global streaming services can offer unlimited boxsets for as long as they want," says BBC Director General Tony Hall) but just as important is offering content that isn't available on regular old clunky broadcast television.

Sid Gentle Films/Robert Viglasky

Related: BBC reveals big plans for iPlayer to compete with streaming services like Netflix and NOW TV



One example of this latter tactic is dropping entire seasons of Killing Eve onto the iPlayer at once, while also airing episodes weekly on BBC One – you can still tune in for a new instalment every seven days, but binge-watchers can stream all eight episodes on iPlayer ahead of their linear transmission.

The only problem with this scheme is that, in order to host an entire season of Killing Eve on iPlayer, the BBC must wait for the US to air those eight episodes first, so that the UK never gets ahead of the States.

The show is, after all, a BBC America production – despite the slightly confusing moniker, US broadcaster BBC America is co-owned by AMC and the commercial entity BBC Studios and is not a part of the licence-fee-funded Beeb.

All this means that UK fans will always have to wait a minimum of eight weeks after the first US transmission before Killing Eve can come to iPlayer and BBC One.

Gareth Gatrell/BBCAmerica

If this box-set strategy were abandoned, and new episodes became available on iPlayer on a weekly basis after their BBC One transmission (as is the case with many other shows), then potentially this gap could be made shorter.

But that's unlikely to happen any time soon: though the wait might be frustrating for fans, box-setting Killing Eve has actually proven an enormous success for the BBC.

Not only was the first episode of season two requested 864,000 times on iPlayer in the first 36 hours of availability (and that's on top of the 3.7 million who tuned in to watch on BBC One), but the complete season box set was requested a total of 2.6 million times during that same period.

The first season ended up accumulating a total of 45 million requests during its original iPlayer stint, with almost half of those – 19 million – coming before the entire season had aired on BBC One.

Like it or not, a longer wait for Killing Eve is the burden we must bear in order to binge.

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Killing Eve seasons 1-2 are available now on BBC iPlayer. Season two continues on BBC One this Saturday at 9pm.

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