The return of The Great British Bake Off spiced up viewing on the BBC’s iPlayer in August, with the first four episodes of series six attracting more than 7m views between them.

The BBC said the hit show, which is on course for a record final next week, single-handedly helped the iPlayer make an “early exit from the traditional summer [viewing] lull”.

The first four episodes of series six were the most-watched TV shows on the iPlayer in August, and by some distance.

The fourth episode of Bake Off was the least popular, ranking fourth with 1.54m requests to view the show, a third more than an episode of EastEnders which was in fifth spot.

The combined total of the Bake Off episodes was 7.33m, with the series six opener the most popular, gathering 2.06m views.

The cooking show phenomenon is not quite as popular as Top Gear, which in February drove the iPlayer to a record with four episodes attracting 9m views between them.

Overall, the BBC said there were 278m TV and radio programme requests on the iPlayer in August, an 8% increase on July and a 13% year-on-year rise.

There were 226m TV requests, up 11% on July and almost a quarter (24%) on August last year.

For radio, the Ashes cricket tests between England and Australia topped the most-listened to programmes.

Top five BBC iPlayer TV shows in August

1. The Great British Bake Off series six; episode 1 – 2.06m requests
2. The Great British Bake Off series six; episode 2 – 1.98m
3. The Great British Bake Off series six; episode 3 –1.76m
4. The Great British Bake Off series six; episode 4 – 1.54m
5. EastEnders; 25 August episode – 1.08m