Mini-series Titanic opened on Sunday night to nearly 7 million viewers on ITV1, according to overnight data.
The Julian Fellowes drama managed 6.89m (26.6%) from 9pm with a further 476k (2.7%) on timeshift.
Titanic was preceded by Dancing on Ice, with 7.06m (30.1%) watching Matthew Wolfenden crowned the 2012 champion (+1: 325k/1.3%).
On BBC One, Countryfile took 4.77m (21.4%) from 7pm, before Antiques Roadshow and Upstairs Downstairs grabbed 5.62m (22%) and 4.45m (17.2%) respectively.
Elsewhere, BBC Two's Top Gear attracted 1.43m (5.6%) and In Orbit: How Satellites Rule Our World had 1.47m (5.7%).
Channel 4's Homeland continued to fare well with 2.05m (7.9%), with Avatar producing 2.61m (12.4%) earlier from 5.50pm. Both had impressive timeshift numbers, garnering 507k (2.8%) and 622k (2.5%) respectively.
Channel 5 showed Battle of Britain: The Lost Evidence from 8pm (924k/3.6%) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines from 9pm (1.03m/4.8%).
Overall, ITV1 dominated primetime with 25% (+1: 1.3%) ahead of BBC One's 19%. Channel 4 finished third with 9.1% (+2: 2.6%) beating BBC Two's 6.1% and Channel 5's 4.3% (+1: 0.2%).
On the multichannels, Desperate Housewives averaged 584k on E4 (+1: 126k/1.3%) and Being Human concluded with 748k (2.9%) on BBC Three and BBC HD.
