The season two opener for Game of Thrones appealed to more than 520,000 viewers on Sky Atlantic last night, according to overnight data.
The US import averaged an impressive 522k (2.1%) from 9pm. Though it was down on the season one premiere, it performed significantly better than Mad Men's season five launch.
Elsewhere on the multichannels, Made in Chelsea returned to 560k (3.1%) in the 10pm hour, and Grimm continued on Watch with 344k (1.4%).
On the terrestrials, an episode of BBC One's Silent Witness grabbed 5.32m (21.2%) in the 9pm hour, winning the timeslot.
ITV1's Scott & Bailey was seen by 4.41m (17.6%) and 546k (3%) on timeshift, with The Dales taking 3.5m (14.9%) in between two instalments of Coronation Street.
A Damien Hurst documentary attracted 599k (2.5%) before Embarrassing Bodies drew 2.44m (9.7%) from 9pm (+1: 404k/2.2%) and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA serving 1.49m (8.4%) from 10pm (+1: 155k/1.7%).
BBC Two showed Chaplins: Angels of Mersey (895k/3.8%), The Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo (1.33m/5.5%) and Modern Spies (1.12m/4.5%).
Channel 5's Ultimate Police Interceptors managed 1.01m (4.2%) with an airing of Little Nicky following with 653k (3%).
Overall, ITV1 won primetime with 22.4% (+1: 0.9%) beating BBC One's 20.6%. Channel 4 took 5.9% (+1: 0.9%) ahead of BBC Two's 4.9% and Channel 5's 3.1% (+1: 0.2%).
