Wild at Heart's series seven finale attracted a total of nearly 6.6 million last night (Sunday), overnight data indicates.
The South Africa-based family drama, starring Stephen Tompkinson and Jill Halfpenny, attracted 6.38m (23%) to ITV1 between 8.30pm and 9.30pm, and a further 187k (0.8%) on +1.
ITV's long-running show, which is rumoured to be facing the axe due to falling ratings, hasn't hit an audience of over 6.6m since January.
Wild at Heart suffered its biggest dip last month when scheduled mid-series against BBC juggernauts Call the Midwife and Sherlock.
Affected by the half-hour clash, Upstairs, Downstairs slumped to 4.77m (17.9%) on BBC One in the 9pm hour, its lowest audience so far.
Dependable duo Countryfile (6.31m/25.6%) and Antiques Roadshow (6.28m/22.3%) held up well against Dancing on Ice, which delivered 7.22m (27.4%) to ITV1 from 7.15pm (+1: 255k/0.9%).
At 9.30pm, 6.14m (23.4%) returned for The Skate Off as Chemmy Alcott was voted out. Adding the 162k (1%) watching on ITV1 +1, the results show saw a 300k week-on-week increase.
A 6.40pm repeat of Harry Hill's TV Burp was caught by 3.68m (17%) and 174k (0.6%) on +1.
Elsewhere, Top Gear bowed out with 5.05m (17.9%) for BBC Two at 8pm, then 2.78m (10.5%) stayed on the channel for Orbit at 9pm, and a solid night's work was capped by Match of the Day 2's 3.21m (18.1%) at 10pm.
Meanwhile, Homeland's incredible resilience continued, drawing 2.01m (7.6%) at 9pm (+1: 271k/1.5%). A Time Team special could only muster 894k (3.2%) an hour earlier, adding 226k (0.9%) on Channel 4 +1.
Early evening film Men in Black II grabbed Channel 5's best audience of the night, with 1.6m (7%) from 6.20pm (+1: 135k/0.5%), after which 695k (2.5%) watched Big Body Squad at 8pm. 9pm movie Layercake took 1.01m (4.6%).
Overall, ITV1 retained its lead in primetime with 21.2% (+1: 0.8%), ahead of BBC One's 20.6%, BBC Two's 11.9%, Channel 5's 4.7% (+1: 0.3%) and Channel 4's 4.5% (+1: 0.8%).
On the multichannels, BBC Three's latest Being Human claimed 783k (2.9%), Desperate Housewives fetched 646k (2.4%), and a repeat of ITV's Benidorm on ITV2 amused 569k (2.1%) and 188k (1%) on timeshift.
More4's screening of Crufts 2012 entertained 661k (2.6%) dog lovers
