Viewers of ITV's Douglas Is Canceled were left disappointed by the "boring" and "unfunny" storyline and demanded to know the joke made by Hugh Bonneville's character.

Viewers of ITV’s Douglas is Cancelled were left disappointed by the “boring” and “unfunny” storyline and took to social media to demand to know the joke made by Hugh Bonneville’s character.

The new show tells the story of a “national treasure” TV news presenter who fights to save his career and reputation after being accused of making a sexist joke go viral.

The four episodes then follow Bellowe’s relationship with Madeline Crow – his younger, more vibrant colleague played by Karen Gillan – and how it evolves after news of his alleged wrongdoing emerges.

But the mini-series disappointed the public who were hoping for an exciting first episode.

The series, created by Sherlock screenwriter Steven Moffat, has left many people wishing the show itself would be cancelled and describing it as “truly awful” and “unfunny and embarrassing”.

Douglas is Canceled stars Hugh Bonneville as Douglas Bellowe while Karen Gillan appears as Madeline Crow, his co-host.

The shows have a stellar cast. Pictured: The Crown’s Ben Miles (front left), Doctor Who’s Alex Kingston (far right) and actor and comedian Nick Mohammed (left)

The show follows a news anchor who fights to save his career after being accused of making a sexist joke that went viral.

Viewers have taken to X to express their frustration with the series’ first episode starring Hugh Bonneville

Within the first 30 minutes of the premiere, viewers turned to X to share their thoughts.

One viewer wrote: “Horrible!! Just horrible,” while another described it as “not funny.”

Others were harsher, writing: “I just wasted an hour of my life watching Douglas is Cancelled on ITV, what a load of crap.”

Many posted that they couldn’t even get past the first episode and gave up watching.

Douglas is Canceled sparked controversy earlier this month when its screenwriter discussed the inspiration behind the series but refused to name who it was based on.

Referring to the real-life character who inspired the comedy-drama, Moffatt told Royal Television Society magazine: “It’s not the main part of the plot, but he was caught behaving badly and thought that it might come up in an interview, so he had to have a rehearsal interview with a junior colleague.

“I was fascinated by the idea of how this might work.”

The Sherlock and Doctor Who screenwriter said he was fascinated by cancel culture and told the Sunday Times that you can only cancel those who feel shame and stressed it would be impossible to ‘cancel Hitler or Donald Trump.

Some have been scathing in their criticism and said the show itself should be canceled.

The series was written by Doctor Who and Sherlock writer Steven Moffat, who has not revealed where he got his inspiration from. Pictured: Alex Kingston

Fans took to social media to guess who the Bonneville character could be based on

He added: “We are outraged when someone who thinks like us is cancelled, but we are perfectly happy to cancel someone else.

“But cancellation only works on people who are capable of being ashamed and who want to be seen in a good light.”

And that’s why the screenwriter revealed that viewers won’t learn what Bonneville’s character actually says until the final episode, allowing the audience to decide whether he deserved to be canceled or not.

Douglas is Cancelled, which airs tonight, features an impressive cast including The Crown’s Ben Miles, Doctor Who’s Alex Kingston and actor and comedian Nick Mohammed.