Stephen King: Fearful fiction can be cathartic for us

There can be lots of psychological reasons to enjoy fiction that is fearful, the writer Stephen King has said.

“A lot of people enjoy horror stories because it allows them to express their anxieties in ways that don’t have anything to do with the real world,” he told BBC Hardtalk.

But fiction that address subjects which are very close to reality like the coronavirus pandemic can present us with a different type of anxiety, King explained.

Watch the full interview on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 March 2021 on BBC World News or watch again on BBC iPlayer (UK only)