Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dramas help drive iPlayer to record-breaking first half of 2021

Vicky McClure as DI Kate Fleming and Martin Compston as DI Steve Arnott in Line of Duty (Steffan Hill/BBC/PA)
Vicky McClure as DI Kate Fleming and Martin Compston as DI Steve Arnott in Line of Duty (Steffan Hill/BBC/PA)

Dramas including Line Of Duty, The Serpent and Time helped drive the BBC iPlayer to a record-breaking first half of 2021.

Programmes were streamed more than 3.3 billion times between January and June – up 8% on the same period last year and 59% on the same period in 2019 following significant growth in early 2020.

The first episode of the sixth series of Jed Mercurio’s Line Of Duty was the most popular episode on the on-demand service during that period with 8,745,000 streams.

BBC iPlayer stock
(Philip Toscano/PA)

This was more than any single episode across the whole of last year.

Viewers also revisited the previous five series of the hit BBC One police procedural, with the show streamed a total of 127 million times in the first six months of 2021.

Line Of Duty is now the second most popular programme of the year behind EastEnders, which is enjoying its best year on iPlayer with 140 million streams in the first half.

The first episode of BBC One thriller The Serpent, about Charles Sobhraj, one of the most elusive criminals of the 20th century, was the second most streamed episode with 6,092,000.

New prison drama – BBC One
Stephen Graham and Sean Bean in Time (Matt Squire/PA)

In third was the first episode of Time, Jimmy McGovern’s critically acclaimed BBC One prison drama starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham, with 5,572,000.

Sporting events have seen iPlayer get off to a strong second-half start.

The Euro 2020 final between England and Italy set a new live viewing record on iPlayer with 5.8 million streams, while the Wimbledon men’s singles final drew 1.7 million live streams as Novak Djokovic beat Matteo Berrettini.

Dan McGolpin, director of BBC iPlayer and channels, said: “There’s been a step-change in the popularity of BBC iPlayer over the last two years and during the first half of 2021 we’ve seen further growth including some incredible numbers for Line Of Duty, the best half-year on record for EastEnders and a spectacular performance for Euro 2020.

“It’s also fantastic to see so many brand new series attracting large audiences with The Serpent, Time, Bloodlands, The Pact and A Perfect Planet all featuring episodes in the iPlayer top 10.”

Most popular episodes per series on iPlayer between January and June 2021:

1. Line Of Duty – Series 6, episode 1 – 8,745,000 streams
2. The Serpent – Series 1, episode 1 – 6,092,000 streams
3. Time – Series 1 , episode 1 – 5,572,000 streams
4. Line Of Duty – Series 1, episode 1 – 5,190,000 streams
5. Euro 2020 – Round of 16: England v Germany – 5,113,000 streams
6. Bloodlands – Series 1, episode 1 – 4,638,000 streams
7. The Pact – Series 1, episode 1 – 4,201,000 streams
8. Traces -Series 1, episode 1 – 4,078,000 streams
9. Line Of Duty – Series 2, episode 1 – 3,541,000 streams
10. A Perfect Planet – Episode 1, Volcano – 3,484,000 streams