Killing Eve fans have lamented the loss of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the lead writer, after the second series debuted on Saturday.
The Fleabag star brought her signature dark wit to the first series, which followed the cat and mouse story of MI5 investigator, Eve Polastri, obsessed with capturing psychopathic assassin, Villanelle.
After watching the first episode of series two, viewers took to Twitter in their droves saying the crime thriller was 'missing the magic' of Phoebe, 33, who passed over the writing duties to Emerald Fennell.
Missing the magic: Killing Eve fans have lamented the loss of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the lead writer, after the second series debuted on Saturday
Phoebe, who is in the midst of spicing up the Bond 25 script, remained an Executive Producer of series two but gave up writing the show because she was working on other projects at the time.
The new series - which dropped on iPlayer on Saturday evening, after the first episode debuted on BBC One - has been requested 2.6m times in the first 36 hours of it being available.
Episode 1 alone has been requested 864,000 times – up 79 percent on the season 1 opener - and peaked when 3.7m people tuned in to watch it when it aired live at 9:15PM.
Comedic genius: The Fleabag star brought her signature dark wit to the first series (pictured in April)
Talented: Phoebe, who is in the midst of spicing up the Bond 25 script, remained an Executive Producer of series two but gave up writing the script
The episode picked up exactly 30 seconds after the first season's concluding moments, when Eve [Sandra Oh] stabbed Villanelle, decided to save her and then realised she had escaped.
But fans missed the 'genius' of Phoebe's writing, with many taking to Twitter to say the show was lacking the dynamic and comedy the actress brought to the characters.
One wrote: 'Watched all of Season 2, Killing Eve not as good as Season 1, bring back Phoebe-Waller Bridge.'
Hit: The new season - which dropped on iPlayer on Saturday evening, after the first episode debuted on BBC One - has been requested 2.6m times in the first 36 hours of it being available
