EastEnders scored a successful month on BBC iPlayer in February, with nine episodes among the top 20 most-streamed programmes.
Newly released data about the BBC’s catch-up service shows that the soap’s nine episodes were requested 9.36 million times across the month.
One of the most popular episodes of the London-based soap, with 1.1 million requests, saw Jacqueline Jossa make her departure as Lauren Branning, as her on-screen sister Abi (Lorna Fitzgerald) was laid to rest following her tragic death.
Who else will be restocking their tissue boxes tomorrow?!😥💧 Goodbye Abi, already missed. 🌟 And farewell Lauren and Louie, be happy. ☀️
✨What next for Max and baby Abi? #EastEnders is back on TUESDAY at 7.30PM✨ pic.twitter.com/WGn12Gs2mm
— BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) February 16, 2018
The BBC said the total number of streams for the month on the platform was 285 million, making it iPlayer’s third best month ever, and the strongest February on record.
The corporation added that there was a 4% year-on-year increase, with average daily requests of 10.2 million.
Topping the list of broadcasts overall on iPlayer was the first episode of new drama series Requiem.
The supernatural thriller’s debut was viewed more than 1.8 million times in February.
The second episode only fared half as well though, coming in at 18th place on the list with 988,000 requests across the month.
Drama programmes made up 19 of the top 20 most-streamed shows overall, with McMafia, Collateral, Silent Witness and Troy: Fall Of A City taking up the majority of slots, alongside EastEnders and Requiem.
BBC Three comedy The Young Offenders was the one non-drama programme in the top 20, with its first episode being watched 1.04 million times overall.
An episode of Collateral, starring Carey Mulligan, was the second most-watched broadcast overall for the month, racking up 1.7 million streams.
James Norton’s Russian-based series McMafia – which debuted on New Year’s Day – was in third place, with one of its episodes being streamed 1.4 million times on iPlayer in February.
Dan McGolpin, controller of programming and daytime for the BBC, said: “February was a record-breaking month for BBC iPlayer, with new drama titles such as Requiem and Collateral leading the way.
“McMafia continued its strong performance from January, with the full series attracting viewers beyond the transmission of the final episode.”