Pre-apocalyptic ‘prepping’ is an industry valued between $500 million and several billion in the US alone. At the peak of the Ebola outbreak, Amazon US sales of full-body protective suits shot up by 131,000%. Influencing the way we buy, the apps we download and even the holidays we take, is paranoia altering society for good?

For a generation accustomed to the immediacy the internet provides, logging onto Netflix can prove frustrating – why isn’t Interstellar on there yet? Why only the first three seasons of The Walking Dead? Perhaps that’s why one of Netflix’s biggest threats is piracy app Popcorn Time.

Political drama House of Cards premiered in February 2013, exclusively through Netflix. The streaming giant's first purpose-made series, it reflects the growing power of digital channels and points towards new kinds of viewing behaviour.

“The streets ain’t made for everybody, that’s why they made sidewalks,” asserts fictional ex-drug dealer Cookie, whose baby daddy now runs affluent record label Empire Records. Welcome to gaudy US drama Empire, which is taking America by storm.