The BBC has defended its coverage of the death of Prince Philip last week after receiving around 110,000 complaints that it went overboard.

Regular programming on BBC One and BBC Two was broken into at 12.09pm on Friday in order to announce the news that the Duke of Edinburgh had passed away at the age of 99 that morning.

The corporation then took the decision to axe all remaining programming for the day as both channels broadcast the same rolling news coverage from BBC News through until Saturday afternoon.

BBC Four was taken off air completely on Friday evening, with an on-screen message urging viewers to switch to BBC One for the news instead.

As of this afternoon, the BBC had received almost 110,000 complaints - a new record - over the decision to broadcast wall-to-wall coverage, with programmes such as EastEnders, Have I Got News For You and the MasterChef final all being delayed.

In response, the BBC said: "The passing of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was a significant event which generated a lot of interest both nationally and internationally.

"We acknowledge some viewers were unhappy with the level of coverage given, and impact this had on the billed TV and Radio schedules.

"We do not make such changes without careful consideration and the decisions made reflect the role the BBC plays as the national broadcaster, during moments of national significance.

"We are grateful for all feedback, and we always listen to the response from our audiences."

BBC One's coverage of the Duke's death averaged just 2.41 million viewers between 7pm and 11pm on Friday, while Channel 4, which aired a largely unchanged primetime lineup, triumphed with a peak of 4.2 million viewers for Gogglebox.