Professor T fans were left “dreading the worst” after a beloved character came close to suffering an untimely death. The comments followed the latest instalment of the ITV crime drama being broadcast on Wednesday (17 April).
Episode four of Professor T, entitled ‘A Little Drop of Poison’, saw protagonist Jasper Tempest (played by Ben Miller) returning to work following a recent run-in with the law. However, detectives quickly recruited him to investigate a spat of unexplained deaths.
After some digging, the university professor realised that victims were being poisoned through confectionery and that his mother currently possessed a pack of tainted treats. As the titular character rushed to save her, Adelaide Tempest (Frances de la Tour) was unwrapping the delicacies at her kitchen table.
As she peeled back the brown paper, her dog, Kafka, began to bark and whine before getting his chops around a piece of poisoned chocolate. “You scoundrel,” Adelaide said whilst prying the sweet treat out of his mouth. “I could send you back to puppy school, you know.”
Thankfully, Jasper burst into the room and deterred his mother from eating the chocolate – but soon noticed Kafka was lying on his side. Regarding the seemingly-dead pooch, Jasper lamented: “I am not sure there is anything we can do”.
“He could smell it,” Adelaide cried. “He sacrificed his life that I might live.”
Thankfully though, the surrender was fleeting as the canine was soon back on his feet, retching out the poisoned confectionary.
Following the nearly-fatal moment, fans of the ITV drama took to social media to have their say.
One user of X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote on the micro-blogging website: “Thank God the dog survived from eating the poisoned chocolate. For a minute there I dreaded the worst that the poor pooch was dead. #ProfessorT.”
A second commented: “Not the dog #ProfessorT.”
However, another viewer grumbled: “Chocolate is poisonous to dogs without there being poison in it.”
A fourth typed: “This episode should have come with a warning.”
Next week marks the penultimate episode of Professor T season three. The instalment, titled ‘The Conference’, is set to air at 9pm on ITV1.
You can watch previous episodes of Professor T on ITVX now.