Planet Earth II tops BBC iPlayer requests

Marine iguanas were among the animals seen in Planet Earth II's Islands opener

The first episode of Planet Earth II is the most requested show on BBC iPlayer so far this year, new figures show.

The Islands instalment of Sir David Attenborough's series has received 3.83m requests on the catch-up service.

The first episode of BBC Three's drama series Thirteen is the second most-requested show of the year to date, having notched up 3.22m requests.

England's Euro 2016 clash against Wales is the third most-requested programme at present, with 2.84m requests.

• Planet Earth II: Nine things we learned from the series

The opening instalment of BBC One drama The Night Manager occupies fourth place in a list of the 10 most requested individual episodes on BBC iPlayer in 2016 released on Thursday.

It is followed by the second episode of Planet Earth II - Mountains - which has received 2.71m requests to view since its initial broadcast on BBC One on 13 November.

The BBC's figures reveal 2016 has been the biggest year yet for the BBC iPlayer, which received 243m monthly requests on average.

October and November saw the highest number of daily requests the service has ever seen, with each month recording an average of 11.7m.

Charlotte Moore, director of BBC content, said 2016 had been a "record-breaking year" for the corporation's in-house on-demand portal.