Increasing numbers of students are claiming that their choice of career was inspired by a TV show, a survey from Office Angels has discovered.

The survey found that television was the main source of influence for young people choosing a career, with 62% of the 16 to 24-year-old respondents saying television dramas CSI, Law and Order and Waking the Dead made forensics look so exciting they would consider it as a career.

It also found that 57% of respondents wanted to join government security agencies purely because of the BBC’s MI5 drama Spooks, while half said they wanted to become journalists like Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, and 44% cited cooking programmes as their reason for wanting to be a chef.