The Serpent viewers horrified as monkey is poisoned and drops dead in distressing scenes

THE Serpent viewers have been left horrified after a monkey was poisoned and dropped dead in a distressing scenes.

The BBC One drama follows real life serial killer Charles Sobhraj and his reign of terror as he killed countless travellers in Thailand, Nepal and India during the 1970s, drugging them and often stealing their identities.

*Spoilers ahead for episode three of The Serpent*

In tonight’s episode, viewers saw Charles – under the guise of a man called Alain Gautier – befriend a French male backpacker called Dominique.

He gained his trust before drugging him and taking him back to his home where he was living with his girlfriend and accomplice Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman).

She then took over issuing him a daily medicine drink to help his ‘sickness’, which in actual fact was making him worse and gradually lose weight.

As the story progressed, Dominique grew weaker and more dependent on the couple, but in one scene, he was home alone and making the ‘medicine’ to drink when the couple’s pet monkey Coco got their paws on it.

Dominique tried to shoo the creature away, but suddenly had to turn and throw up, allowing the monkey to drink even more of it.

Moments later, the animal collapsed and dragged itself across the floor before dying, leading Dominique to realise all was not as it seemed with Alain and his girlfriend and what they were doing to him.

However, viewers were shocked and took to Twitter to comment on the distressing scene.

One angry viewer wrote: “c*** they killed@the f***ing monkey cba #TheSerpent.”

Another tweeted: “Poor Coco died from the poison #TheSerpent.”

Dominique grew increasingly distressed after Coco’s death and struggled to figure out how he could escape Alain’s clutches and return home to France from Bangkok.

The Serpent continues next Sunday, January 17 at 9pm on BBC One, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.