The return of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in BBC1’s Sherlock was the most popular programme on the BBC’s iPlayer in 2014, pipping Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear to the top in a record year for on-demand viewing.

In all there were a record 3.5bn requests for TV and radio programmes on the iPlayer – 2.6bn for TV content and 860m for radio output – up from a total of 3.1 bn in 2013.

Top 20 TV episodes requested on BBC iPlayer, 2014

1 Sherlock, series 3 episode 1 4.19 million
2 Top Gear, series 21 episode 1, 3.81 million
3 Top Gear, series 21 episode 3, 3.42 million
4 Top Gear, Burma special part 1, 3.34 million
5 Sherlock, series 3 episode 2, 3.33 million
6 Sherlock series 3 episode 3, 3.21 million
7 Top Gear series 21 episode 2, 3.08 million
8 Murdered By My Boyfriend, 23 June, 3.02 million
9 Outnumbered, series 5 episode 1, 2.86 million
10 Doctor Who, series 8 episode 1, 2.8 million
11 Top Gear, Burma special part 2, 2.79 million
12 Top Gear, series 21 episode 4, 2.55 million
13 Top Gear, series 21 episode 5, 2.46 million
14 The Great British Bake Off, series 5 episode 1, 2.31 million
15 Top Gear, Patagonia Special part 1, 2.29 million
16 Outnumbered, series 5 episode 2, 2.24 million
17 Outnumbered, series 5 episode 3, 2.17 million
18 The Apprentice, series 10, episode 4, 2.09 million
19 The Apprentice, series 10, episode 7, 2.07 million
20 Outnumbered, series 5 episode 4, 2.07 million