Kay Mellor’s newest ITV drama has won plenty of fans and plaudits, but several viewers felt last night’s episode of Girlfriends took things too far.
The main talking point from the series has been the whodunnit behind Micky’s disappearance.
To begin with it looked like an open-and-shut case of suicide, but many fans are convinced that’s not the case.
And neither are the police, who dragged Linda in for further questioning, refusing to rule out suspicious circumstances.
Linda’s friends, meanwhile, are convinced that Carole is the true criminal, and have been trying to clear Linda’s name.
So far, so normal for a Kay Mellor drama. But things took a very dark turn right at the end of the episode.
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Sue had left Linda fast asleep, after helping her deal with more legal issues. And as Sue left, someone else tried to enter.
That someone was Carole – dubbed “Crazy Carole” – who rooted under Linda’s plantpot for a spare key.
She quietly let herself in, and then the action moved to Linda’s bedroom upstairs where she was still fast asleep.
Linda awoke to the sounds of a creature in pain, and nervously called out to see if Sue had come back.
The next shot showed Carole with a blood-covered knife in her hand, and Linda’s beloved pet cat stabbed to death.
Animal lovers flocked to Twitter to blast ITV for the scenes of cruelty.
One wrote: “Absolutely no need for the graphic image of the cat shall not be watching anymore. Shame it had the making of a good show.”
Another said: “Yes I know its not real and its only tom sauce but that scene with the cat was out of order and was horrible and will encourage sick individuals! I have put in my complaint to #ofcom.”
However, some viewers felt the complaints were over-the-top, and were keen to remind people that of course no animals would have been harmed for real.
One wrote: “It’s a fictional cat and the ‘cat actor’ wasn’t ‘really’ killed in the making of the show. People do know that, right?”
The demise of the poor feline was definitely a twist we didn’t see coming – exactly what Kay Mellor is good at!
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It’s left us wondering if even the three stars of the show – Linda, Sue and Gail – will survive until the end of the series…
Girlfriends continues next Wednesday at 9pm.