Television on the move — viewed on a mobile phone or an iPod — is proving a surprise hit, despite the small size of the screens, BBC figures show.

The corporation reported that viewers were watching half a million programmes a day online, which also includes those watched on PCs, Macs and Apple TVs.

Doctor Who, Torchwood and EastEnders are the most popular, with people spending up to 25 minutes at a time online.

The figures were released as the BBC announced that hit shows such as Ashes to Ashes and Little Britain will be offered as paid-for downloads on iTunes.

However, British users will pay almost double the price of Americans to download shows, despite an EU order for Apple to standardise the price of music downloads.

From today a range of programmes can be purchased for £1.89 per episode. In the US, the standard price for an iTunes programme download is $1.99 (£1).

Oliver Schusser, director of iTunes Europe, said £1.89 was good value. He told The Times: “Different countries have different pricing models. The UK price factors in VAT, which is not the case elsewhere. Our consumer feedback in the US is that people really like the immediacy of downloading a show straight to view.

“The idea that you can preview a show before buying is popular.” The programmes will be screened without adverts. Apple said that users could begin watching programmes while the files, delivered in mpeg4 file format, are downloading.

Popular series including Spooks, The Catherine Tate Show and Life on Mars, will be among the first batch of shows to be made available. Like music tracks bought from iTunes, the programmes are owned permanently and can be viewed repeatedly. However they cannot be copied on to a DVD and contain the same digital rights restrictions as music files.

Episodes of current series, such as Ashes to Ashes, will appear on iTunes eight days after being shown on television. More shows will be added through deals with the main US studios including Disney and Viacom, owner of the MTV network. Other British broadcasters are expected to sign on with Apple. Viewers can already download or stream BBC shows free through the iPlayer service. More than 17 million people have used it in the seven weeks since its launch. Programmes made available on iTunes will no longer be available through iPlayer.

Ashley Highfield, the corporation’s director of future media and technology, said: “This is early days, but we think an extra 10 per cent of all viewing of programmes like Torchwood is being done online.”

BBC programmes will be available to watch at the push of a button through Apple’s iPhone “some time

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