Kevin McCloud's architecture series, still one of the broadcaster's best performers after 13 years on air, achieved a series high of 3.05m (13.5%) in its traditional Wednesday 9pm slot, also adding an impressive 553k (3.5%) on +1.
Then 10pm's Shameless, which was recently cancelled, climbed to 989k (6.5%).
Meanwhile, ITV was given a big boost by Emmerdale's hour-long live episode, as All Star Mr & Mrs (3.8m/16.7%) and DCI Banks (4.36m/19.2%) both lost viewers week-on-week. Mrs & Mrs had a further 228k (1%) on +1, and Banks added 206k (1.3%) on timeshift.
Over on BBC One, Watchdog (4.72m/21.3%) won its 8pm slot, while Who Do You Think You Are? mustered 3.38m (14.9%) for the tale of John Barnes's family history.
At the same time, Welcome to India interested 1.74m (7.7%) on BBC Two, standing as the channel's best-rated broadcast of the night. An hour earlier at 8pm, Great British Food Revival served up 1.72m (7.8%).
Elsewhere, Dallas took 1.19m (5.3%) for Channel 5 at 9pm (+1: 130k/0.8%), prior to which 1.07m (4.9%) watched Emergency Bikers.
Overall, ITV1 topped primetime with 22.9% (+1: 1.1%), ahead of BBC One's 18.4%, Channel 4's 7.2% (+1: 1.2%), and Channel 5's 4.2% (+1: 0.3%).
The Only Way Is Essex continued on with 794k (1.7%) on ITV2 at 10pm, appealing to a further 175k (1.9%) an hour later, while Jo Brand's sitcom Getting On returned to BBC Four with 517k (2.9%).
