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Killing Eve and Normal People among the most-watched BBC iPlayer shows of the first half of 2020

Photo credit: Sid Gentle Films/Jason Bell - BBC
Photo credit: Sid Gentle Films/Jason Bell - BBC

From Digital Spy

Killing Eve and Normal People have been named as the top performers on BBC iPlayer so far in 2020, as the streaming service celebrates its best-ever first half of the year.

The BBC has reported that a record-breaking number of viewers used iPlayer between January and June 2020, with 3.1 billion requests to stream programmes. That's up 47% on 2019.

April to June of this year was also iPlayer's best-ever quarter after 1.6 billion streaming requests were received, an increase of 59% on the same quarter last year. The January to March quarter was also 34% higher than the 2019 equivalent.

Photo credit: Element Pictures/Enda Bowe
Photo credit: Element Pictures/Enda Bowe

Related: Killing Eve season 4 gets big update

Dark comedy spy thriller Killing Eve's third season, which saw Sandra Oh's investigator Eve Polastri and Jodie Comer's professional assassin Villanelle continue their tempestuous cat and mouse chase, was the most popular show of all. Its first episode 'Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey' was requested 6.95 million times.

Every single entry in the top 10 most popular episodes across BBC iPlayer from January to June 2020 was either Killing Eve or smash-hit drama Normal People, a TV adaptation of Sally Rooney's popular novel which charts the course of the love affair between Irish teenagers Connell and Marianne.

Also proving popular across the first six months of the year were dramas The Nest, Dracula and The Split, comedy series This Country and reality show Race Across the World.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

Related: Race Across the World executive producer discusses show's future

The BBC reports that box sets have also been doing well, from old favourites like school drama Waterloo Road and sitcom My Family to new dramas including Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You and The Luminaries.

Controller of BBC iPlayer Dan McGolpin said that it was "fantastic" to see the record viewing levels.

"In a year full of challenges, BBC iPlayer has entertained us, connected us to events like the virtual Glastonbury and the restarted football season, broadened our horizons through Culture in Quarantine, educated our younger family members through BBC Bitesize and all the while kept us informed of the latest news from around the globe."


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