Leaving you in suspense is a cruel and unnecessary trick. But it happens at the end of every single series of great television shows (except the last series). It is the hook that brings you back next year. But who is it for? Is it for the writers and producers to try and ensure you come back or do we, kind of, enjoy this torture?

It all started in the early movie serials (the first written use of the phrase was in the 1930s). In these movies they would literally leave the hero hanging off the cliff. A feat not repeated if memory serves, until the ending of the original Italian Job. A particularly cruel trick as they were never coming back.

But while I hate having to suffer from the torture of not knowing what's happening next it really does keep me interesting in coming back.

It's interesting that the soaps do run this sort of thing every episode and it still works. Can there really be something that exciting every day?

It leads me to the question, how do you keep an idiot in suspense?