Last night, we were treated to the first episode of ITV's new psychological thriller Cheat, and while audiences loved the twists and turns of the dark drama, they were uniformly horrified by the death of one character at the end of the episode: Leah's cat Betsy.
The drama focusses on the lives of two people: a university professor, Leah, played by Katherine Kelly, who suspects her student Rose, played by Molly Windsor, of cheating on an essay submitted at a fictional university in Cambridge.
The first episode set up the relationship between the woman with plenty of suspense and tension, but ended with a shocking twist: the killing of Betsy by a car.
Advert
The beloved pet goes missing and can then be seen dead on the road near Leah's house, leading Leah to suspect her student.
In the episode, Leah is seen asking her husband: "Do you think this is a coincidence? She [Rose] was here and now Betsy goes missing."
Later, Leah confronted her student, hoping to get a reaction by saying: "My cat died last night".
However, Rose put on an innocent performance, saying simply "Oh you must be devastated. Poor Betsy."
Advert
Shocked viewers took to Twitter to share their shock and disappointment at the feline death.
One Twitter user wrote: "NOT OK WITH THEM KILLING BETSY THE CAT."
While another wrote: "Turned it off the minute she left the house, i knew she had taken the cat. Just no need for animals to be harmed for the sake of a programme #Cheat."
Advert
Others threatened to stop watching if Betsy was harmed, with one viewer writing: "Hurt the cat and I won't carry on watching #cheat and another fuming, "That's it! I'm turning off. When will writers realise there's no need to kill the cat!!"
Cheat will be shown on ITV every evening from 9pm to 10pm from Monday, 11th March until Thursday, 14th March.
Featured Image Credit: ITVTopics: TV Entertainment