More Boxsets on BBC iPlayer

Hit Tom Hardy drama Taboo and psychological thriller Apple Tree Yard will become the first of a new run of boxsets on BBC iPlayer.
All episodes of each show will remain on iPlayer until the last episode is broadcast. The full series will then be available to watch as a boxset for 30 days.

The shows have each proven to be a big success, with Taboo receiving over 3m requests on BBC iPlayer for its first episode, on top of consolidated viewing figures of 7m. Apple Tree Yard received 2m requests on iPlayer for its first episode alone, on top of its consolidated viewing figures of 7m.

Given this success, it’s been decided to make them available in their entirety for viewers who have missed out – or who just want to watch again.

The announcement follows BBC Director-General Tony Hall’s call last month for iPlayer to be reinvented to ensure it is the UK’s number one online TV service. Boxsets have featured on iPlayer before, but this is the first time some of the biggest prime time dramas have been available in their entirety for 30 days.

Dan Taylor-Watt, Head of BBC iPlayer says: “Taboo and Apple Tree Yard have both been huge hits on TV and on BBC iPlayer. Now viewers will be able to enjoy them as full box sets – and we want to do the same for more shows in the future. It’s giving viewers what they want – and it’s just the start of what we can do to ensure BBC iPlayer is the UK’s number one online TV service.”

In Taboo, Tom Hardy plays James Delaney, who reappears in London in 1814 a changed and haunted man, having been presumed dead in Africa many years before. The show is executive produced by Hardy alongside Ridley Scott and Steven Knight, who created the drama. The first episode achieved consolidated viewing figures of 7m viewers, and received over 3m requests on BBC iPlayer, and the full eight episode boxset will be available from 25 February.

Apple Tree Yard is an adaptation of Louise Doughty’s best-selling novel, and stars Emily Watson as a high-flying geneticist whose affair with a mysterious man is thrown into a new light by a sudden, shocking act of violence. Apple Tree Yard’s first episode had consolidated viewing figures of 7m viewers, and 2m requests on BBC iPlayer, and the full four episode boxset will be available from today.

The BBC intends to make more content available on BBC iPlayer for longer – enabling audiences to watch more – of what they love, whenever and however they want. More boxsets will be coming to BBC iPlayer in due course.