The Luminaries viewers brand BBC series 'unwatchable' following 'unclear' episode 1

Many complained about the 'unclear' visuals

New BBC drama The Luminaries left viewers quite literally in the dark during the broadcast of its first episode.

The series, based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Eleanor Catton, is a period mystery drama set in the midst of New Zealand's gold rush in 1866 and charts events following the death of a local man named Crosbie Wells (Ewen Leslie).

As viewers attempted to piece events together, though, they found themselves frustrated by the “gloomy” visuals, which left many unable to make out what was happening on screen.

“Gloomy, unclear and dark scenes where someone unknown and barely visible does something you can’t make out,” one person wrote, adding: ”Can’t take much more of this.”

Another complained: “It’s looking dreadfully like one of those series where it’s perpetually dark and I can’t actually see anything that’s happening!”

When BBC Points of View’s Twitter account asked if audiences enjoyed the show or felt like they were “left in the dark”, a few people chimed in with their complaints.

“Left in the dark, as in too dark to see what’s going on most of the time,” one user wrote.

“It was very boring, confusing and hard to hear what they were saying. Such a shame,” another added.

Other people who found the brightness levels to be acceptable were just generally flummoxed by the plot.

“Obviously it was very stylish but does anyone know what the hell was going on?” one person wrote.

Another viewer stated: “I feel like I fell asleep and missed about 10 episodes of The Luminaries.”

The series, which stars Himesh Patel, Eva Green and Bono‘s daughter Eve Hewson, continues tonight (22 June) at 9pm on BBC1.