The audience was not happy.

Last night’s episode of Emmerdale ended in pure shock for pretty much everyone watching as Lachlan White’s reign of terror continued. Viewers were left devastated when Lachlan claimed the life of his latest victim, Gerry Roberts. Yes, Gerry was left begging for his life after Lachlan cruelly left his former cellmate trapped under rubble. The disturbing episode saw the murderer circle Gerry’s body, talking to him before he bludgeoned him to death with a large stone. Later setting the scene to make it look like an accident, Lachlan’s latest victim was a step too far for many viewers who took to Twitter to share their disgust.

Not happy. Gerry was such a great character. Hearbreaking #Emmerdale

— terriwoods (@terriwoodschels) May 17, 2018

I’m actually so upset right now #emmerdale #gerry pic.twitter.com/7BVdnIti3N

— Katie⚡️ (@acciofjrebolt) May 17, 2018

#Emmerdale They have made Lachlan into a manipulative, deranged and lethal sociopath. That scene was incredibly hard to watch and the brutality of it will be off-putting to alot of people. Gerry didn't. need to die but Lachlan is a phenomenal soap villan

— Patrick Travers (@ClearVoice99) May 17, 2018

Omg Jerry can't die! Even at the end he was still cracking jokes #emmerdale #jerrycantdie??????

— Sophie Marshall (@Soph_J_Marsh) May 17, 2018

Lachlan killed his mum and granddad now his so called best mate I hope they discover what he has done and lock him up and throw away the key he is so evil #emmerdale pic.twitter.com/NDmKNouRLy

— dan the chatterbox ☀⭐? (@chattymandan) May 17, 2018

This is a new level for Lachlan. Last time it wasnt guaranteed he would kill anyone or if he would even survive. This time, he knew what he was doing amd deliberately killed Gerry! #Emmerdale

— Cirah (@Cirah_TV) May 17, 2018

In fact, there was so much backlash that an ITV boss had to make an official statement defending to shocking scenes.

“I don’t think that it’s that the world has got any darker, I just think that we on soaps have got a bit more confident on tackling subjects that really, really matter and a large part of that is having such a great ensemble cast. “We don’t just sit around and think, ‘Why don’t we do this story because it’s zeitgeisty?’. We think, ‘What makes sense for this character? Where do we want to take that character next?’ “And that confidence comes quite simply from the power of our actors to make the stories credible and human.”