His comedy dominates iPlayer top 5

Peter Kay’s Car Share was the most-requested show on iPlayer last month.

The comedy, which premiered on demand before its traditional TV broadcast, takes four out of the top five places on the charts, released by the BBC today.

These figures cover only the post-broadcast period – not the five days when the episodes were previously available on iPlayer.

Peculiarly, the second episode was the most-viewed in May, with 1.45million requests, followed closely by episodes 3 and 1. The only other show in the top five was the documentary Shark.

Episode 5 of Car Share came 20th in the chart,but episode 6 did not make the top 20, probably as it was not available until the 22nd of the month.

All six episodes were perviously put out on iPlayer exclusively from April 24 to 28, attracting 2.8million requests in total, making it the most successful series to premiere as a box-set.

The success on-demand did not seem to dent the TV audience, as the show launched with 5.7million viewers on BBC One, an impressive 27 per cent audience share. And although they inevitably dipped, the figures remained strong over the series, ending at 4.82million.

Comedy also performed well in the radio iPlayer chart for May. Although the England vs New Zealand Test Match Special was the most-requested show, The News Quiz and Dead Ringers game in at No 2 and No 5 respectively.

Car Share was written by Tim Reid and Paul Coleman, directed by Kay, and co-starred Sian Gibson. It was the first time the Phoenix Night creator has worked for the BBC, outside of guest appearances.

Published: 24 Jun 2015