Peter Kay's new comedy begins on BBC1 tonight – but it's already been watched by millions of viewers via iPlayer.

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Car Share is the comedian's first sitcom for BBC1 and sees him play a supermarket employee who volunteers to drive a nosy colleague (played by Sian Gibson) to and from work.

It premiered on BBC iPlayer last Friday 24th April – five days before it was due to air on BBC1 – and since then has been viewed 2.8 million times. The whole series was available to watch, and episode one alone racked up over a million requests.

This makes Car Share the most successful series to date to premiere on iPlayer in a box-set format, with all six episodes making it into the on-demand platform's ‘most popular’ section over the weekend.

Peter Kay said: "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 Wednesday and Thursday on BBC1... at half nine."

The BBC's controller of comedy commissioning, Shane Allen, added: “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 BBC1 tonight.”

Car Share is no longer available on iPlayer, ahead of its BBC1 broadcast tonight at 9.30pm.

Read more: our preview of Car Share

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Peter Kay's Car Share is hit before it's been on TV

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Claire Webb

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