The television adaptation of a raunchy 18th century novel last night won BBC4 its biggest ever audience.
The first episode of the two-part Fanny Hill, scripted by Andrew Davies, attracted an average of 1.1 million viewers, a 5.3% share at 9pm.
This beats BBC4's previous best, the Alan Clark Diaries in January 2004, by more than 200,000, and helped the channel to its third best night ever.
The programme is a racy adaptation of a 1748 novel by John Cleland set amid the brothels and sexually promiscuous circles of 18th-century London.
With more than 39 sex scenes and descriptions of genitalia, the novel was a hit in its day but earned the author a warrant for his arrest.
It was banned soon after publication and remained so until 1966 in the US and 1970 in the UK.
Scriptwriter Andrew Davies, who has also adapted other period pieces such as Pride and Prejudice and Tipping the Velvet, reportedly had to tone down rather than sex-up the script.
Fanny Hill stars newcomer
Rebecca Night as Fanny Hill, Alison Steadman as Mrs Brown and Hugo Speer as Mr H.