According to new viewing statistics released by the BBC, watching the iPlayer through a TV is for many people in the UK becoming their preferred way to view BBC programmes, both on-demand and live. In the regular monthly update of iPlayer usage, the platform received 236 million requests for TV content in July 2017, with viewing on mobiles, tablets and connected TVs up year-on-year.

New crime drama series In The Dark was July’s top programme receiving 1.6 million requests over the rest of the month. Flagship soap opera EastEnders also had a very strong month in July, claiming 16 of the top 20 most popular programmes across the month. Other top-performing dramas in July include the Doctor Who series finale, featuring Peter Capaldi’s penultimate performance as the Doctor, and the return of crime drama Top Of The Lake, starring Elizabeth Moss, Nicole Kidman and Gwendoline Christie. Documentaries — such as BBC Three’s Stacey Dooley Investigates Kids Selling Drugs Online and BBC One’s The Betrayed Girls — also performed well.

“Watching BBC iPlayer through the TV is now easy to do and for many people it's become their preferred way to view BBC programmes, both on-demand and live,” commented BBC controller of programming and daytime Dan McGolpin. “We release a wide selection of fresh content every month of the year and July saw strong performances from a mix of gripping drama series and challenging investigative documentaries.”