‘Haven’t a clue!’ rage Passenger viewers as they ‘switch off’ new ITV thriller halfway through premiere

PASSENGER viewers had a big complaint and even resorted to ‘switching off’ the brand-new thriller halfway through its debut episode. 

Last night, ITV fans were thrown into the twisted fictional town of Chadder Vale as the broadcaster's new series premiered.

During the first episode of Passenger, viewers were introduced to teenager Katie Wells, played by Rowan Robinson, who was on an outing with her friend in the pub. 

Things quickly took a twisted turn when the two drove through the forest at night, and an unidentified object dropped on their car, causing her to slam on the brakes harshly. 

As the two girls got out to investigate, a series of strange noises could be heard, and Katie called out: “I saw you.”

Not long after, the teen saw something sinister up in the trees in the forest, and she screamed in fear. 

Later, Katie’s mum reported that she was missing after she realised that she had never made it back home.

A search party was called out, and her car was found abandoned in the woods with traces of blood and a shredded stag nearby.

Officer Riya Ajunwa, played by Wunmi Mosaku, was called to investigate, but she soon feared the worst. 

However, the panic was short-lived as Katie returned home as though nothing happened.

While people were glad that she was back safely, strangely, everyone seemed to accept her unusual disappearance, but Riya was determined to find out what had happened, as she felt something strange was happening in the forest.

Things started to become even more bizarre as the episode went on, including Riya getting odd flashbacks and one man wearing a gas mask while unloading a suspicious van.

After the episode aired, viewers took to X(formerly Twitter)  and shared their thoughts on the new series, which left many fans baffled.

One user quizzed: "What is actually going on? Haven't a clue so far."

"Hoping it picks up #passenger, I'm bored,” chimed another.

A third wrote, "35 minutes in and that's it, it's off #passenger,” while a fourth followed it with, "I'm trying to work out the story."

Someone else agreed:  "Yes, there are so many disparate elements, it's hard to figure out what's going on."

Despite many viewers finding the series confusing, others seemed to enjoy the new ITV series as one user typed: "Obsessed with it already #Passenger."

Ahead of Passenger’s premiere, screenwriter and Broadchurch star Andrew Buchan teased that there would be more questions and mysteries.

Speaking to , he said: “You don’t want to insult the audience’s intelligence, and it hopefully takes them on a very exciting ride.

“What I will say is that you will have to wait until episode six to find out some of the answers to all the clues that we leave along the way, and believe me, there are quite a few clues.

“But, by the end of episode six, you'll hopefully realise that these people are still at the start of a very big journey.”

New Passenger episodes aor on Sundays from 9pm on ITV with all six episodes available to stream on ITVX.