How fake log fire became Netflix’s most watched Christmas show: Hour-long episode of crackling wood beats Squid Game in festive TV wars

Christmas is one of the most important times of year for television, with terrestrial channels and online streamers stocking the very best shows for the time of year for everyone to sit down and enjoy their favorite programmes.

This Christmas, however, Netflix saw its biggest festive hit come from an unlikely source.

A growing trend has started for viewers to imagine a roaring fireplace on their TV screens, and the streamer has answered that call with an hour-long video of a fake Crackling Birchwood fireplace on the site.

It has become so popular that it beat the new series of hugely popular Korean drama Squid Game for the top spot in Britain on Boxing Day night. The Guardian.

The episode features footage of wood burning on an open fire on a loop. The program notes describe it as ‘gnawing, crackling birch logs setting the mood for a relaxing time as a beautiful fire comes to life with glowing embers and dancing flames’.

The Crackling Birchwood Fireplace episode is part of the Fireplace For Your Home franchise on Netflix, which also offers three other episodes called “Crackling Yule Log Fireplace” and “Crackling Fireplace with Music.”

Another variant ‘Classic Crackling Fireplace’ was also the third most watched TV program on Boxing Day. The description for this show, rated U and released in 2015, reads: ‘enjoy the sights and sounds of a real crackling fire bringing warmth and a festive glow to parties, family gatherings – or a quiet night at home’.

Today, the two fireplace videos had fallen in popularity but remained in the top 10 shows in Britain.

The hearth streams have become a huge global hit for Netflix, with huge viewing figures every year

The highly anticipated season of Squid Game was released on Thursday after a three-year wait

The original Fireplace For Your Home was released in 2013 and Netflix has since been offering a virtual fire in living rooms across the UK and around the world.

There are also theme variations on the Fireplace For Home, including a Bridgerton version and a campfire version.

At Christmas, the shows’ popularity peaks as more viewers opt for the background setting over some of the popular shows the streamer has available over the festive period. Last year, two of the fireside programs were the second and third watched shows in Britain on Christmas Day.

Crackling Birchwood Fireplace also reached number one in Canada this year and was second on the US Netflix Boxing Day chart, with Classic Crackling Fireplace at number five.

The phenomenon has even led to a behind-the-scenes parody documentary about the making of the fireplace series, in which a director painstakingly selects the best logs to be in the foreground of the shot.

Meanwhile, three years after the first season of the big world hit Squid Game on Boxing Day, season two was finally released on Netflix.

The South Korean series’ first outing of 2021 quickly became the streaming service’s biggest show ever, racking up a whopping 1.65 billion viewing hours.

Squid Game series one became the streaming service’s biggest show ever, clocking in at a whopping 1.65 billion hours watched

It followed the story. Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), along with other unlucky people, faced a series of deadly children’s games, killing many along the way, in an attempt to win the £24 million prize money.

However, just hours after its release, viewers flooded X with disappointed responses – complaining that they “didn’t wait three years for this.”

Some critics have also claimed that the show has now ‘lost its edge’, while others called it ‘utterly captivating’.

Fans unanimously labeled it “boring” and “predictable,” while also complaining that it lacked the show’s signature nerve-wracking plot.