COUPLES who binge on Breaking Bad are less likely to break up, according to new research.

Work by Aberdeen University found kicking back to TV box sets and films can help keep couples together, particularly when they don’t share friends.

Those with different social circles are said to make up for this lack by “adopting” on-screen groups like Breaking Bad’s dysfunctional duo Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.

The study said: “Sharing a social identity is a key component of interdependence in romantic relationships.

“In particular, sharing a social network of friends and family members with a romantic partner enhances relationship quality, but maintaining an integrated social network is not always possible.

“When people lack a shared circle of friends with their partners, sharing media like TV shows, books, and movies may compensate for this deficit and restore closeness.

“Our findings showed that when people lack shared friends with their romantic partners, sharing media predicts greater relationship quality.”

Recent box set hits include Stranger Things on streaming service Netflix, Outlander on Amazon Prime and Game of Thrones on Sky.

Netflix also produced a major draw in its original prison drama Orange is the New Black, while Amazon won plaudits with its productions Transparent and Mr Robot.

Published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, the new study found couples who frequently shared these and other TV programmes and movies rated their relationship quality and commitment higher than those who did not.

Previous work has found couples who share more friends are more satisfied, committed and optimistic about their relationship than those with few pals.

Pairs with more social contacts are also less likely to split, with newlyweds who have a larger social circle reporting better relationship quality one year later.

The Aberdeen team, led by Dr Sarah Gomillion, measured the extent to which people shared media with their partners, whether they had a lot of friends in common and how they rated their relationship.

It said the results “highlight the remarkable flexibility with which close relationship partners maintain their shared social worlds and promote satisfying, lasting relationships”.

Gomillion said: “Relationships are a very big contributor to our physical and psychological health.

“So understanding how relationships can be better and how you can improve relationships can also improve our physical and psychological health.

“What these results suggest to us is that when people have a hole in their social network that they share with their partners, they might become more motivated to share media as a way to compensate for that deficit.

“Watching TV with a partner or watching a movie you both like is a really easy way to improve relationship quality and anyone can do it at any time.

“So if this is something that is good for relationships, it might help us identify an intervention that can improve relationship quality.”