© Rex Features / ITV
Matthew Kelly's guest appearance on the hit ITV sitcom was seen by 6.08m (25.8%) in the 9pm hour, and 431k (2.4%) on ITV1 +1, down only 100k on last week's premiere.
At the same time, a New Tricks repeat had 4.04m (17.1%) for BBC One, while The Mentalist climbed to 1.6m (6.3%) for Channel 5, Melvyn Bragg on Culture interested 1.21m (5.2%) on BBC Two, and The Bank Job entertained 1.11m (4.8%) on Channel 4 (+1: 158/0.9%).
Besides EastEnders, BBC One's only slot win came at 10.35pm with The Graham Norton Show (3.47m/23.6%), as 8.30pm's Room 101 had 3.25m (13.2%).
Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers made a triumphant return to Channel 5, grabbing 1.48m (6.1%) at 8pm (+1: 182k/0.8%).
Channel 4's latest New Girl drew 865k (3.5%) at 8.30pm (+1: 144k), while its Mad Bad Ad Show at 10pm rose to 565k (2.9%).
BBC Two's Mastermind quizzed 1.98m (8.4%) at 8pm, and another episode followed with 1.86m (7.6%) at 8.30pm.
Overall, ITV1 topped primetime with 24.9% (+1: 0.9%), beating BBC One's 20.1%. BBC Two claimed third place with 5.9%, followed by Channel 5 with 5.2% (+1: 0.4%), and Channel 4 with 3.8% (+1: 0.6%).
BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional
