ITV picked BBC1's pocket in the battle of the hard-bitten detectives last night, with long-running favourite Taggart again beating relative newcomer In Deep, starring Nick Berry and Stephen Tompkinson.
One third of the available audience tuned in to watch the arrival of new DCI Matt Burke in Taggart between 9pm and 11pm, matching the 6.8m who tuned in last week.
In Deep, which concludes tonight, continued its ratings slide with 5.5m viewers and a disappointing 24% audience share, according to unofficial overnight figures.
The prospect of light relief in the shape of BBC2's Monday Comedy Night helped Never Mind the Buzzcocks to a healthy 3.5m audience at 9pm, a 15% share.
It was followed at 9.30pm by the hit and miss surreal humour of Big Train, which drew 2.7m, a 12% share.
Earlier in the evening ITV1's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? continued to lose its lustre, narrowly beaten by the green-fingered charms of Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock in Ground Force at 8.30pm on BBC1.
The hardy perennial gardening show, which benefited from a 13.4m inheritance from EastEnders, had 8.6m viewers - a 35% viewing share.
Chris Tarrant's once unbeatable quiz show drew 7.8m viewers, a 32% share.
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