Douglas is Cancelled landed on ITV this evening and it follows the story of a respected news presenter Douglas Bellowes (played by Hugh Bonneville) whose career could go up in flames after a social media post about an offensive joke he allegedly made at a wedding goes viral.
To add insult to injury, his co-host Madeline (Karen Gillian) reshares the post about the sexist joke in question, but Douglas swears he cannot recall the punchline.
As the opening episode aired, fans were left issuing the same complaint and they never found out what the sexist joke actually was.
Taking to X to vent, one ITV viewer remarked: “#DouglasIsCancelled I love Stephen Moffat but I’m bored. Is it a play? Why hasn’t someone murdered the ghastly Claudia?
“Do I even care about the sexist joke? Maybe if this had been made ten years ago…Then again, I’ve only made it to halfway through ep 2, it might get better.”
Roz added: “Perhaps #DouglasisCancelled could just… slow down slightly and let us catch our breath? Reduce the word count a tad. And get rid of that oh-so-fake supposed teenager. But it’s still one of the best things on all week.”
A third viewer said: “Bored by #DouglasIsCancelled. The first 10 minutes should grab your attention. This hasn’t. Two adverts in 25 minutes haven’t helped either.”
Chris added: “#DouglasIsCancelled not for me. I found it a bit boring and it was shot in a lot of dark, no light. Sorry, Lord Grantham.”
Despite the backlash, other viewers were enticed by the opening episode, with one penning: #DouglasIsCancelled what a magnificent portrait of modern life! ‘A newsreader’s arse can push a war off the front page…'”
Tony added: “#DouglasIsCancelled is rather good and exactly why I’m a bit tired of life!”
The show was created by Doctor Who and Sherlock writer Steven Moffat who initially wrote the story as a play half a decade ago, long before Huw Edwards and Phillip Schofield‘s scandals came to light.
He previously told The Guardian: “It doesn’t matter which period you put this story in: there will be somebody who fell from grace in TV.”
The series consists of four episodes in total, with the next three episodes airing weekly at the same 9pm timeslot on ITV.
However, every episode of the mini-series is now available to watch on ITVX.