Blue Planet II a big hit in China

British TV series Blue Planet II has already been viewed in China over 80 million times.

To put that figure in perspective, it's greater than the entire population of Great Britain! 

The viewing figures were released by the BBC, who made the programme, which was only released at the end of October.

Apparently, Blue Planet is proving particularly popular with Chinese families, who are enjoying watching the underwater footage together.

The programme is voiced by BBC veteran wildlife presenter Sir David Attenborough.

A screenshot of Blue Planet II. [File photo: Tencent]

Blue Planet is not the first recent British programme to become a big hit with Chinese viewers.

In September, we reported that children's cartoon Peppa Pig has been viewed in China a staggering 34 billion times.

That was according to the company behind the hit series, which airs in 180 countries around the world, Entertainment One.

What makes Peppa Pig's success in China all the more impressive is the fact that she was first available to Chinese viewers in 2015 - so those views have all occurred in the last two years.

Peppa is also proving to be successful on Chinese social media platforms, with a growing presence on Weibo and WeChat.