BBC viewers have been left “furious and devastated” by the latest twist in the WWII-era drama series World On Fire.
The programme returned for a second season earlier this week, having first aired on BBC One in 2019.
Spoilers follow for World on Fire series two, episode one...
In the first episode of the new series, we learn that pacifist bus conductor and WWI veteran Douglas Bennett (Sean Bean) perished in a German bombing raid on Manchester. Arthur Darvill’s character, RAF pilot Vernon Hunter, was also killed off.
Bean has become renowned for dying repeatedly in film and TV; this latest death is said to be the 25th of his career.
However, fans weren’t happy with the sudden plot development, with many sharing their frustrations on social media.
“World on Fire season 2 started tonight and they’ve killed off Sean Sean off screen i am f***ing furious and devastated,” one viewer wrote.
“Absolutely peed off,” someone else remarked.
“Gutted both Sean Bean and Arthur Darvill have been killed off. Can’t help thinking that if the pandemic hadnt have hit then this second series might have been different,” another person wrote.
While Bean and Darvill have now exited the series, a number of the other principal characters have returned, including Jonah Hauer-King’s Harry Chase, and Lesley Manville’s Robina Chase.
Lesley Manville in ‘World on Fire'— (BBC/Mammoth Screen)
In a four-star review of the first season for The Independent back in 2019, Ed Cumming wrote: “Perhaps inevitably, the effort to cover so many bases comes at the expense of characterisation. From the doomed soldiers defending Danzig to the smouldering gay, black saxophonist in Paris, via the snobbish old English mother with sympathies for Mr Mosley, we hardly get to know anyone before we are whisked off to the next location.
“It’s not especially clever, but it is big, exciting, and packed with watchable actors. What’s more, in a TV world where too often we are encouraged to see the Nazis as warm and cuddly real people with emotions, it’s refreshing that they are here relegated back to pure baddies, strafing cafes, shooting surrendering fathers and generally being Nazi-ish about things. When the world’s on fire, it’s nice to take refuge in the old certainties.”
World on Fire continues at 9pm on Sunday on BBC One.
