According to a declassified Ministry of Defence report on the power of soap operas, positive messages and storylines slipped into New Home, New Life, the British-backed Afghan incarnation of The Archers, have helped reduce landmine injuries, and persuaded Afghans to vote and to stop producing opium.

For the past three decades, Brazilian “telenovelas” have helped Cubans forget their litany of woes for an hour a day. But today, dozens of South Korean soap operas are earning wide audiences. Following in the footsteps of South Korean films and K-pop, “doramas” — South Korean soaps dubbed into Spanish — first appeared on Cuban televisions earlier this year.