Red Eye's opening episode has everyone fearing for the dog

What did you miss?

Richard Armitage's brand-new six-part thriller Red Eye has everybody's tongues wagging, but maybe not for the reason you'd automatically assume.

Premiering on ITV1 tonight (April 21), Red Eye - not to be confused with the underrated Wes Craven movie starring Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams - saw Armitage's doctor Matthew Nolan being extradited back to Beijing over a vehicular manslaughter charge involving the dead daughter of a Chinese general.

His flight was of course boarded by all walks of life, yet surprisingly this included a woman and her pet dog, which kicked up many questions from viewers reacting on social media.

What, how and why?

Handcuffed and terrified, Matthew was supervised by DC Hana Li (played by Heart of Stone's Jing Lusi) on his trip, and as the public were ushered onto the plane, it became clear they'd have to put up with a pampered pooch for 11.5 hours in the sky.

At first, the animal had its own seat and was placed in a crate next to its master, while later on in the episode, she'd been allowed to uncage it and have it sitting happily on her lap.

Responding to this unexpected character on social media site X, one disturbed Red Eye fan wrote: "Poor dog getting stressed in that crate".

"Ofc I'm distressed about the dog being anxious. Petition for the dog to survive the flight" and "I'm just worrying about that poor stressed dog in the crate beside all that baggage," were two corresponding messages.

As the shadiness ramped up around Matthew and Hana, with one of their fellow passengers choking to death, some watchers even feared for the dog's safety, as a fourth X user pointed out: "The cabin crew girl is definitely up to no good. Now we have a dog to worry about".

What else were viewers saying about the Red Eye premiere?

As for the general consensus on Red Eye, fans seemed pretty polarised in their assessments, which you can see from the below tweets.

Red Eye continues next Sunday (April 28) at 9pm on ITV1.

Read more:

• Richard Armitage on The Hobbit, Red Eye, and always returning to Harlan Coben

• Everything we know about Richard Armitage’s ITV thriller Red Eye

• Obsession: Why everyone is talking about the new Netflix series — and what it has to do with pillows

Watch: Red Eye trailer