These shows gave BBC iPlayer its best ever year in 2017

Doctor Foster, Blue Planet II and Taboo were some of BBC iPlayer's most watched shows.

BBC iPlayer has recorded its best ever year in 2017, with viewers streaming an average of 272 million shows a month.

Series like Blue Planet II, Taboo and Doctor Foster helped increase the yearly total show requests to 3.3 billion - an 11% increase on 2016.

Three Girls, Sherlock and Peaky Blinders were also extremely popular with viewers.

December was the best month on record, due to box sets and classic shows being made available over Christmas.

They included re-runs of Louis Theroux's Weird Weekend, Leaving The Cult and Killing For Love.

In an attempt to compete with Netflix and Amazon, the BBC also took more of a digital first approach, by making entire series of shows available on the iPlayer after the first episode was shown on live TV.

Peaky Blinders episode The Noose was the seven most requested programme on iPlayer in 2017.

This was trialled for Peter Kay's Car Share, Motherland and Feud: Bette and Joan.

Dan Taylor-Watt, head of BBC iPlayer, says: "It's been an extraordinary year for BBC iPlayer.

"Boxsets were extremely popular, audiences loved watching. And whether enjoying a new series, watching a currently airing programme or indulging in a classic archive show, viewers seem to love it."