The one-off episode, Jamie Cooks Christmas, helped the broadcaster win the 9pm hour with an average of 3.66m (17.3%).
BBC One was second, drawing 3.08m (14.5%) for the final episode of Apparitions. Over its six episodes the supernatural drama has averaged 3.23m (14.4%), down around 25% on the slot average.
BBC Two's Never Mind The Buzzcocks "tribute" show brought in 2.23m (10.4%) at 9pm, then The Graham Norton Show amused 1.8m (8.6%). ITV1 had 2.04m (9.6%) for the documentary Fat Teens In Love.
Five's Dangerous Adventures For Boys racked up 728k (3.4%).
The Bill averaged 4.78m (21.7%) to help ITV1 win the 8pm hour, while Channel 4's Come Dine With Me improved significantly to 2.67m (12.2%).
Repeats of Nigella's Christmas Kitchen had 2.93m (13.6%) and 3.21m (14.3%) for BBC Two in the 8pm hour. Wild About Your Garden interested 3.42m (15.9%) on BBC One, then in the back half of the hour, The People's Hospital had 2.52m (11.2%). Secrets Of Egypt intrigued 1.35m (6.1%) on Five.
Hollyoaks drew 1.92m (9.5%) to Channel 4 at 6.30pm, then E4's next look had 525k (3%) at 7pm (+1: 139k, 0.7%). On Five, Neighbours had 1.47m (9.1%) and Home & Away had 1.13m (6%).
BBC One was on top in primetime with an average share of 20.3% (last week: 20.2%), while ITV1 slipped to 16.6% (20.2%). Channel 4 was third with 10.6% (6.2%), followed by BBC Two with 9.3% (9.3%) and Five with just 4% (7.2%).
BBC Three's EastEnders repeat was the most-watched multichannel show of the day, with 716k (4.3%) at 10pm.
Sky1's The Simpsons double bill had 613k (3.4%) and 578k (3.1%) in the 7pm hour. ITV2 had 613k (3.4%) for a screening of Shaun of the Dead from 9pm (+1: 89k, 0.7%), then Die Hard 2 pulled in 483k (8.1%). Earlier, Xtra Factor: Best and Worst took 487k (2.5%).
Ratings data supplied by Attentional
