Nigel Havers bowed out from Coronation Street with a sizable audience on Friday night.
Lewis Archer's dramatic departure attracted 9.07m - a 37% share - at 8.30pm as well as 336,000 on +1.
Although a third stint for Havers is expected, his gigolo alter ego may have gone out on a high.
The earlier 7.30pm visit to Weatherfield, which saw Kirsty dish out her latest punishment to Tyrone, recorded 8.51m (36.7%) and 247k on +1.
Max Branning was beaten up on EastEnders to an audience of 7.8m (33.1%) at 8pm, and BBC Three's 10.30pm repeat had 376k.
Emmerdale logged 7.3m (33.1%) as Cameron nearly killed Cain, while Hollyoaks took 1.05m (5%) for Channel 4 and 589k (2.7%) for E4's first look.
Neighbours appealed to 825k (11.1%) and 908k (5.4%) on 5, while Home and Away entertained 722k (3.8%) and 504k (2.4%) for 5*'s first look.
Earlier in the day, Doctors averaged 1.51m (20.5%) for BBC One for a story titled 'Ancient Triangle'.
