Touch, the new drama starring 24's Kiefer Sutherland, began its first season on Sky1 with nearly 760,000 viewers, according to overnight data.
The US import averaged 757k (3.3%) in the 8pm hour, becoming the highest-rated non-soap multichannel show of the night.
Elsewhere, the latest instalment of Alcatraz took 479k (2%) on Watch, The Vampire Diaries improved to 394k (1.7%) on ITV2 (+1: 102k/0.6%) and MTV's Geordie Shore appealed to 334k (2%).
On the terrestrials, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings beat its 9pm competition. The Channel 4 show averaged 4.23m (18%) in the timeslot, overpowering Crimewatch on BBC One (3.48m/14.8%).
Gypsy Weddings also had an additional 678k (4.1%) on timeshift, while Supersize v Superskinny preceded it with 1.9m (8.3%) from 8pm (+1: 221k/0.9%).
ITV1 had a disappointing night as Homes from Hell managed 1.83m (8%) from 8pm (+1: 100k/0.4%) and Return to the Falklands mustered 1.83m (7.8%) from 9pm (+1: 161k/1%).
BBC Two showed Hairy Bikers' Bakeathon (2.57m/11.2%) and Horizon (2.18m/9.3%).
Lastly, on Channel 5, CSI averaged 1.97m (8.4%) from 9pm (+1: 147k/0.9%) with Revealed taking 1.03m (4.5%) earlier.
BBC One won primetime with 22.2%, far ahead of ITV1's 11.3% (+1: 0.5%). Channel 4 came third with 9% (+1: 1.4%) beating BBC Two's 8.6% and Channel 5's 5.5% (+1: 0.3%).
