Peter Kay’s Car Share has record-breaking premiere

Peter Kay’s new comedy series Car Share, which premiered in full on BBC iPlayer from 24 to 28 April, saw comedy fans flock in the millions with 2.8m requests to date.

This makes Peter Kay’s Car Share BBC iPlayer’s most successful series to premiere as a box-set to date, with episode one racking up over 1m requests alone. All six episodes made it to BBC iPlayer’s ‘Most Popular’ section over the weekend.

This is the first Peter Kay sitcom for BBC One, and following its iPlayer premiere, episode one broadcasted on the channel last night.

Peter Kay says: “I’ve been blown away by the response so far. How could I not be. Here’s hoping the success continues and people enjoy the series on BBC One.”

Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning, says: “This is a phenomenal reaction which shows how excited audiences are to see Peter in his first scripted comedy for the BBC.

“We’re so proud of the show and it’s heartening that comedy does so well in the new on-demand world.

“All credit to Peter for his innovative approach with this series launch which hopefully gives it a following wind for the primetime launch on BBC One tonight.”

Peter Kay’s Car Share is part of BBC iPlayer’s trial to premiere 40 hours of BBC content.

The success of Car Share follows on from a record-breaking year for BBC iPlayer, which saw 3.5bn TV and radio programme requests in 2014 alone.