Hollyoaks fans were devastated and left fuming at the Channel 4 soap this week, after a major character was unexpectedly killed offscreen 14 years after their last scenes.
Amid hopes for the character to make a comeback, it was revealed in shocking scenes that Justin Burton had died on the show in 2022.
Of course fans and characters had no idea, and it's only when his son Charlie Dean wanted to find him that he learned the devastating news.
At a time where Charlie felt lost and like no one cared for him, he searched for his father only to get the devastating news that he was dead.
In a clip posted on Hollyoaks' Twitter page in the aftermath of the death news, Charlie is seen speaking to the dad he barely knew at his graveside.
Justin fled the village in 2009 after going on the run, wrongly accused of Warren Fox's murder - while Warren had actually faked his death.
Chris Fountain bowed out of the role leaving fans gutted, having joined the show in 2003.
Recently, viewers believed that a comeback was being lined up for Chris and his character Justin, as he was often mentioned and Charlie wanted to know more about him.
So to find out the character was dead this week left viewers stunned and gutted that a comeback seemed unlikely, unless Justin was faking his death.
Viewers were furious with the decision to kill off the popular character, with many calling it one of the show's worst decisions ever.
Taking to Twitter, one viewer said: "Such a stupid decision, he should have been brought back not killed off."
Another viewer agreed: "Disgraceful decision if Justin really is dead!" as a third fan said: "I can't believe that Hollyoaks has killed off Justin! What a mistake!"
A fourth viewer said: "the way i was actually starting to think we could have a justin return or at least a lil cameo BUT NO they had to kill him ????"
Meanwhile a fifth tweet read: "i can't believe we all hyped ourselves up over all the justin mentions thinking we were gonna get a return only for him to die???"
Hollyoaks airs weeknights at 6:30PM on Channel 4, followed by the next episode at 7PM on E4.
