Douglas is Cancelled viewers were left let down and unimpressed with the latest series from ITV, with many fans threatening to switch off just minutes into the first episode.
The synopsis for the series reads: “TV news anchor Douglas Bellowes faces a career crisis when he’s overheard making a sexist joke at a wedding.
“The situation escalates when his co-presenter, Madeline Crow, re-tweets a comment about the incident to her large following, intensifying the public backlash.
“Douglas struggles to clear his name while navigating his own relationships with his wife and daughter. Comedy drama, starring Hugh Bonneville and Karen Gillan.”
Whilst many fans were left wondering what the series had to bring, they quickly realised that the advert didn’t do the first episode justice and took to their X account to complain.
“Bit far-fetched!” one immediately noted before another added: “Was looking forward to #DouglasIsCancelled but not for me so far.”
The show stars Hugh Bonneville
ITV
A third said: “It’s quite badly written. And nothing like as funny as it thinks it is.”
“I’m bored already,” someone else penned, before a fifth claimed: “Sadly #DouglasIsCancelled appeared better in the adverts than the reality of watching it.”
Another simply stated: “It’s a no from me. Nearly switched off after the first break and have after the second.”
However, not everyone was left disappointed by the episode, as one praised: “Best thing Moffat has written since Sherlock season 2. It’s about time cancel Culture had the piss taken out of it. #DouglasIsCancelled.” (sic)
Many fans claimed they found the script badly written
ITV
Speaking about his character ahead of the series, Bonneville noted: “Douglas is a perfectly decent, pleasant man who’s doing a good job and is well-liked for what he does. He thinks so, too.
“Even when, a couple of years ago, he welcomed a younger colleague, Madeline, onto the sofa beside him he felt secure, safe in the knowledge that the warm, avuncular relationship he had with his protégée wasn’t a threat to his own position.
“Is he smug? I wouldn’t say so. Unguardedly confident, definitely. But, just as the dinosaurs didn’t know they were a dying breed, Douglas is blithely unaware that the next generation is smarter, more streetwise and capable of sheer ruthlessness when the chips are down.
“Or when wrongs have not been righted. That’s his blind spot. His fatal flaw. That’s what’s at the heart of his character. Hubris.”
Fans claimed the first episode was ‘boring’
ITV
When he asked if he based his character off of anyone in the TV industry, he explained: “No. I didn’t consciously think, ‘Who’s this person like?’ If anything, Douglas is a cousin of a character like Ian Fletcher, from Twenty Twelve and W1A.
“Desperately trying to keep things steady, while not realising the extent of the mess that’s going on around him, in this instance, a mess entirely of his own making.”
