ITV's The Poison Tree fell behind BBC Two's documentary series about Claridge's Hotel last night (December 17).
With both shows concluding in the 9pm hour, Inside Claridge's gained the upper hand with an audience of 4.33m (18.5%), rising 200,000 on last week's instalment and 1.1m on December 3's debut edition.
The Poison Tree, meanwhile, shed a million viewers as 3.66m (15.6%) watched the two-part psychological drama's climax as well as 253k on ITV1 +1.
Over on BBC One, a repeat of a 2008 My Family Christmas special appealed to 3.01m (12.9%).
Channel 4's latest broadcast of Stephen Fry's Gadget Man drew 1.05m (4.2%) at 8.30pm (+1: 170k), retaining a comfortable lead over 5's Gadget Show which held a steady 737k (3%) across the 8pm hour.
However, Fry was nearly outsmarted by hit BBC Four quiz show Only Connect, the latest episode of which pulled in an impressive 1.01m (4.1%)
Overall, ITV1 topped primetime with 21.4% (+1: 0.8%), beating BBC One's 17.5%. BBC Two earned third place with 10.5%, way ahead of Channel 4's 3.5% (+1: 0.8%), and Channel 5's 3.1% (+1: 0.2%).
