Hustle's return to BBC One was beaten last night by Lynda La Plante's Above Suspicion.
According to early viewing figures, ITV1's new series of La Plante's drama was seen by 6.74m (25.6%) at 9pm, making it the most-watched programme during the hour.
Hustle, returning for its sixth series, pulled in an impressive 6.05m (22.9%) but failed to beat its rival. Last year, series five of the Adrian Lester-fronted drama opened to 5.71m (23.3%), but won the hour by around 2 million viewers.
Earlier on BBC One, DIY SOS grabbed 4.33m (15.9%) in its half-hour slot from 8.30pm.
Over on BBC Two, University Challenge managed 2.9m (10.4%) at 8pm before the audience dropped drastically to 940k (3.5%) during the 8.30pm screening of Defying Gravity. Showtime's Nurse Jackie made its UK debut at 10pm, attracting 1.11m (5%).
The Mystery Of The Nevada Triangle put in 1.79m (6.5%) for Channel 4 at 8pm, then 1.78m (6.8%) watched Generation XXL - a programme following overweight children - at 9pm. Celebrity Big Brother followed at 10pm, bringing in 3.38m (18%) - a drop of around 2.53m on Sunday night's launch.
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A repeat of Five's Police Interceptors interested 810k (3%) during the 8pm hour, then Kevin Costner movie Wyatt Earp averaged 722k (4.4%) between 9pm and 12.45am.
Overall, ITV1 came top during primetime with an average share of 26.8% to BBC One's 22.6%. Channel 4 was third with 8% (+1: 0.7%), followed by BBC Two with 4.9% and Five's 3.1%.
