the replacement
Ellen and Paula from The Replacement BBC

The BBC1 three-part drama The Replacement will not be returning for a second series, and that may be a good thing after Tuesday night's (14 March) finale left viewers disappointed and baffled.

The maternity drama concluded with Paula Reece (Vicky McClure) being revealed as a psychopath trying to steal Ellen Rooney's (Morven Christie) life. It closed with one of the most divisive conclusions that the BBC has delivered in a while, leaving some viewers complaining about the "diabolical" ending.

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After being drugged, arrested, beaten up and accused of driving her best friend to the brink of suicide and fathering her boss' child – along with having her baby daughter Leah taken away – Ellen finally managed to retrieve her baby and see the mentally disturbed Paula handcuffed and whisked away to the station in the back of a police car.

Fans were left less than impressed by the ending, with a few hinting that show writers may have ran out of time to conjure up a solid finale.

One viewer wrote on Twitter: "#TheReplacement ending was like an English exam when you're running out of time and have to bullet point the conclusion..." as another put: "Do you think they thought they had four episodes but only found out 50 mins into to the last one that they had three? #TheReplacement".

A third added: "Was it just me or was the final 10 mins of #TheReplacement just about the worst piece of script writing ever? Did they lose some pages?"

Others felt like the drama needed a second series to wrap things up properly. One viewer suggested: "I hope there's another season of #TheReplacement where they just run through everything in Ellen's wardrobe & where to buy it".

The final few minutes of the drama also appeared to leave the door open for a potential follow up series to tie up the many loose ends – but the show's writer Joe Ahearne has insisted there will not be a second offering.

He told RadioTimes.com: "It's very much a self-contained drama. I am very much a fan of beginning, middle and end, and quite a lot of drama on telly both here and in America they want it to be all middle.

"They like it to go on forever. When I am a viewer I don't necessarily want to commit 20 hours of myself to something. So very few stories really repay that. It's the commercial imperative of TV, it's what everyone wants," he added.