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Doctor Who viewers go time travelling: 'Astronaut' episode is the most recorded TV show of all time.

Kantar Media analysis of BARB data reveals the 'Top Ten' most recorded TV shows .

19 May 2011 - In the first episode of this year's Doctor Who, titled 'The Impossible Astronaut', the Doctor travelled back in time to witness the historic 1969 moon landing. However the show's viewers were also creating history.

Kantar Media analysis of BARB data - the official UK TV ratings - shows that the episode was the most recorded TV event of all time. A combination of an incredibly warm Easter Saturday and an unusually early start to the show saw record-breaking numbers turn to recording devices to ensure that they did not miss their favourite show.  Whilst 8.9 million viewers in total saw the show on TV, making it the sixth most viewed show of that week, within that viewing figure a colossal 4.1m viewers chose to 'time shift' the show by watching a recording of the show either later that day (called VOSDAL - Viewing On Same Day As Live - by the TV industry) or in the following week.

The figure easily beat the previous record holder, the 2010 Christmas day episode of Come Fly With Me.  Other shows likely to have viewers reaching for the record button to ensure they are not missed include reality TV shows like The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, along with comedy favourites like The Royle Family. Christmas Day is a particularly heavy day for recording TV - perhaps to resolve family arguments over the remote control.

Kantar Media's analysis, which uses it's InfoSys software to analyse BARB data shows the top 10 shows of all time in terms of the amount of 'recorded viewing'. The list of shows that the British public 'dare not miss' makes interesting reading:

(Source: BARB)

Dalia Gereis, Commercial Director, Kantar Media Audiences, said:  "With the continued growth of hard drive recording devices like Sky+, it's no surprise that all the episodes of these top 10 recorded shows come from the last three years. Increasingly viewers are using their own 'time travel' abilities to watch TV shows when they want them - this particularly applies to dramas and 'must see' reality shows. Given that these figures do not include data from online catch up services like BBC iPlayer and ITVplayer, it is clear that judging a show's performance just by looking at it's overnight viewing figures is unlikely to give the full picture."