Unforgotten premiered to 4.5 million viewers on ITV last night (October 8), according to overnight figures.
The crime drama, starring Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar, appealed to 4.53 million (22.5%) from 9pm, with a further 207k (1.4%) on timeshift.
Earlier on ITV, Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs returned to 3.91 million (19.5%).
Over on BBC One, Watchdog interested 3.75 million (18.9%) from 8pm, and Who Do You Think You Are? with Mark Gatiss attracted 3.15 million (15.6%).
BBC Two's Great British Menu cooked up 1.94 million (10.4%) in the 7pm hour. It was followed by World's Weirdest Events with 1.48 million (7.5%).
Cradle to Grave and Boy Meets Girl managed 1.39 million (6.7%) and 844k (4.3%) respectively, before Mock the Week entertained 1.28 million (7.9%) from 10pm.
On Channel 4, George Clarke's Amazing Spaces drew 1.38 million (6.9%). Hunted then continued with 1.1 million (5.5%) from 9pm, and First Dates averaged 942k (6.8%).
Channel 5 aired Aircrash: The Miracle of Flight 32, which was watched by 714k (3.6%), and Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways, which logged 935k (4.6%).
On the multichannels, ITV2's Celebrity Juice drew an audience of 493k (3.3%) from 10pm.
