Nearly twice as many people watch the iPlayer outside Britain than inside it – they’re just not paying for the service.

Around 112million people a month tune into television shows such as Top Gear, Doctor Who and Sherlock, from countries including China and Russia, despite the fact that they make no contribution towards the BBC.

That figure is nearly twice the 64.5million population of Britain, where the vast majority of households are obliged to buy a television licence for £145.50 a year.

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Around 112million people a month from countries like China and Russia watch BBC shows including Top Gear on the iPlayer, despite the fact that they make no contribution towards the BBC

Last night MP Philip Davies said the findings showed Britons were being short-changed and added weight to the case to turn the BBC into a subscription service.

‘It is totally unacceptable that, in effect, the British licence fee payer is subsidising foreign viewers to access their services,’ he said.

‘Why on earth does the BBC want to keep sucking off the teat of the licence fee payer when it could flourish as a subscription service, only goodness knows.

'This shows that the demand is there if only it had the guts to go after it.’

According to research by Global Web Index, viewers tuned into the BBC from all around the world, including Mexico, Taiwan and the Philippines.

However, it was by far and away the most popular in China, where nearly 39million viewers a month watch BBC content illegally.

India came second, but was a good distance behind, as 7.6million viewers tuned into the iPlayer to watch programmes like Dragon’s Den and Poldark.

The BBC iPlayer is not supposed to be available to any overseas viewers.

However, 65million of those who watch the catch-up service use a so-called ‘virtual private network’, or VPN, which effectively trick the BBC’s systems into thinking that the request comes from a UK computer.

According to research by Global Web Index, viewers tuned into the BBC from all around the world, including Mexico, Taiwan and the Philippines

Tens of millions more viewers overseas take a much more basic route, watching BBC content on pirate websites which specialise in supplying illegal content.

That means that the BBC is potentially missing out on billions of pounds of fresh revenues for content, which British citizens are paying for.

Yesterday, a BBC spokesman said: ‘BBC iPlayer, and the content on it, is paid for by UK licence fee payers to watch and download in the UK and the terms of use reflect that.

‘We do not comment on individual cases regarding breaches of BBC iPlayer’s terms of use, but we take steps where appropriate to protect the intellectual property belonging to rights holders.’

The BBC is potentially missing out on billions of pounds of fresh revenues for content, for which British citizens are paying

However, Global Web Index’s findings could come as good news for the BBC, which has been told by the Government that it can close the so-called ‘iPlayer loophole’ and start charging people to watch content on the catch-up service.

If it is allowed to do so, it could potentially bring in millions or even billions of pounds of new income for the corporation.

However, legal restrictions which stop the BBC from airing certain programmes outside the UK could get in the way of this sort of system.

The BBC has experimented with a ‘foreign iPlayer’ before.

In 2011, it started selling an online pass to viewers in Western Europe, Australia and Canada for as little as £52 a year.

The international edition showed thousands of hours of drama, comedy and documentaries created for British audiences.

Europeans were asked to pay £4.30 a month for the service, whilst Canadians were billed £3.70 and Australians £3.80.

However, the BBC always styled the scheme as a ‘pilot’ and eventually pulled the plug on it last month.

According to reports, US television companies threatened to take the BBC America off air if the BBC made the service available on their turf.

The Government has said it will increase the BBC’s licence fee in line with inflation, as part of the latest funding negotiations.