In the Dark tops BBC iPlayer in July
David Farnor | On 19, Aug 2017
New crime drama series In The Dark was the most-watched programme on BBC iPlayer in July.
The series stars MyAnna Buring (Ripper Street) as DI Helen Weeks, a strong-willed detective drawn into the two most testing and personal cases of her career – just as she begins her journey towards motherhood. The first episode was made available from 11th July, following its broadcast on BBC One, and received 1.6 million requests over the rest of the month.
EastEnders once again had a very strong month in July, claiming 16 of the 20 most popular programmes across the month. Other top-performing dramas in July include the Doctor Who Season 10 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. The show’s second season was released all-at-once on demand on 27th July, with Episode 1 racking up 634k requests by the end of the month – an average of 158k per day.
It was also a good month for documentaries, with BBC Three’s Stacey Dooley Investigates Kids Selling Drugs Online attracting 719k requests – just ahead of BBC One’s The Betrayed Girls, which examined the Rochdale abuse scandal, generating 675k requests.
BBC iPlayer received a total of 236 million requests for TV content in July, with viewing on mobiles, tablets and connected TVs up year on year. The latter is particularly an area of growth, says Dan McGolpin, Controller of Programming and Daytime.
“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,” he comments.
You can read our spoiler-free review of Top of the Lake: China Girl here.