Dragons' Den opened to just under 3 million viewers on Sunday night (August 11), according to early figures.
The 11th series of the business competition series attracted 2.95m (13.3%) at 8pm on BBC Two, which is 950,000 higher than its previous episode in December.
Later, the Hairy Bikers' new series Restoration Road Trip interested 1.95m (8.8%) at 9pm.
On BBC One, Celebrity Mastermind quizzed 3.03m (15.5m) at 7.30pm, while Countryfile was once again the most-watched show of the night with 5.29m (23.9%) at 8pm.
The White Queen's penultimate episode dipped to 3.17m (14.3%) at 9pm.
ITV's Tipping Point entertained 3.93m (20.8%) at 7pm (110k/0.5% on +1), followed by All Star Mr & Mrs with 3.34m (15.1%) at 8pm (219k/1.0%).
Law & Order: UK rose 100k to 4.00m (18.0%) at 9pm (321k/2.0%).
On Channel 4, The Mill held steady at 1.93m (8.7%) at 8pm (244k/1.1%). Southcliffe's third episode dropped to 1.10m (5.0%) at 9pm (142k/0.9%).
Channel 5's latest episode of Once Upon a Time appealed to 632k (2.8%) at 8pm (106k/0.5%). Big Brother continued with 1.17m (5.3%) at 9pm (242k/1.5%).
On BBC Three, Family Guy topped the multichannels with 1.20m (6.4%) at 10pm, and 1.01m (6.7%) at 10.30pm.