George Michael week, which saw the top six acts perform tracks from the singing legend's back catalogue, pulled in 13.04m (48.6%) between 8pm and 9.20pm.
Straight after the main show on ITV2, Holly Willoughby's Xtra Factor interested 690k (3%).
The latest edition of I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, during which Katie Price and Kim Woodburn took part in this year's eating trial, delivered the show's largest audience this series with 9.94m (40.9%) watching from 9.20pm.
ITV2's spinoff show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Now! put in 745k (4.4%) for the following hour.
Earlier on ITV1, New You've Been Framed and Harry Hill's TV Burp had 4.64m (18.7%) and 6.79m (26.3%) respectively.
Over on BBC One, Merlin's latest episode, called 'The Lady Of The Lake', attracted 5.6m (25.2%), before 8.93m (34.9%) tuned in to see Ricky Groves ejected from Strictly Come Dancing.
Then, The National Lottery Draws: 15 Years put in 4.35m (16.3%), while Casualty's offering, titled 'Second Chance', took 4.76m (18.2%).
BBC Two's half hour episode of Porridge logged 1.4m (5.5%) from 7.15pm and Berlin managed 1.02m (3.8%) for the following hour. Ugly Beauty then averaged 525k (2%), before 708k (3%) tuned in for the Mastermind Children In Need Special.
Channel 4's Time Team special, The Secrets Of Stonehenge, was watched by 1.42m (5.3%). The Greatest Ever 3D Moments drew 629k (2.6%) from 9.20pm. Friday The 13th Part III in 3D then averaged 305k (2%).
Five's evening of US crime shows began at 7.50pm with NCIS, which took 1.01m (3.8%), before CSI: New York and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation drew 1.06m (4%) and 1.29m (5.5%) from 8.40pm and 9.40pm. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit then had 1.3m (8%) an hour later.
Overall, ITV1 dominated primetime with an average share of 35.8% to BBC One's 24%. Channel 4 and Five were joint third with 4.2% (+1: 0.5%) and 4.7% respectively, while BBC Two came last with 3.8%.
BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional
