Outnumbered fans were devastated as they tuned into the Christmas special of the hit BBC programme.
In the latest episode, viewers reunited with the Brockman family for the first time in eight years.
As the show began, Sue Brockman (Claire Skinner) and Pete Brockman (Hugh Dennis) prepared to welcome their three children into their new downsized home for Christmas.
But just minutes into the programme, Pete revealed that he has cancer, prompting viewers to question why it had been featured in a Christmas special.
Taking to X, one fumed: “Why on earth put cancer in a Christmas comedy. Appalling. Immediately switched off. Utterly dreadful.”
A second posted: “The kids have kids, they’ve got a new house and Pete’s got cancer. I can’t cope.”
A third asked: “Why have they put cancer in a Christmas episode.”
Echoing this, a fourth penned: “Did the writers really think Pete having cancer is suitable for a Christmas episode???”
Another agreed: “I loved it when the kids basically improvised the entire thing. It’s not even remotely funny now… Also it’s Christmas; why must everything be sad and depressing?? Whoever wrote this: WHY did you make the CHRISTMAS episode based around cancer? What’s your problem?”
At the beginning of the show, Pete was discussing how to tell Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey), Ben (Daniel Roche) and Karen (Ramona Marquez) about his prostate cancer diagnosis with wife Sue.
While speaking to Jane, Pete attempted to see the positives as he revealed that doctors had caught the cancer early.
Ahead of the episode, Hugh explained why the storyline was included in the Christmas special.
The 62-year-old said: “Every family pretty much has had experience of that kind of stuff. And we’ve had, not within my nuclear family, but my dad had cancer at 66 and survived until he was 88. It has touched everyone, really.
“And I’m pleased to have done it, actually. Partially because I got nabbed once by Prostate Cancer UK, and I’m now one of the faces of ‘go and get your prostate cancer self-check’.
“So, as well as it being a story which resonates, I’m sort of delighted if it means that anybody goes and gets a check. That’s a sort of little victory, isn’t it? Because everybody has been touched by cancer in some way. So, essentially, no research [is] needed because it’s such a common thing.”