Bridget Jones: Mark Darcy killed off in new book Mad About The Boy

Bridget Jones fans have expressed their horror at the news that author Helen Fielding has killed off Mark Darcy in new book Mad About The Boy.

In extracts from her new book, published in the Sunday Times magazine, Bridget Jones reveals that Mark Darcy – her husband and father to her two children, died five years earlier.

Mark Darcy was played by Colin Firth in the Bridget Jones movies.

Helen Fielding is due to speak at next month’s Cheltenham Literature Festival.

In the published extracts, Bridget Jones is revealed to have two children Mabel and Billy and a 30-year-old toyboy called Roxster.

Helen Fielding’s first book Bridget Jones’s Diary was published in 1996 and a sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was released three years later.

Written in the form of a personal diary, the novels chronicle the life of a 30-something single working woman living in London.

In 2001, a film adaptation starring American actress Renee Zellweger, with Hugh Grant as womanizing Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth as Darcy, was released.

Renee Zellweger was Oscar-nominated for the role and, in 2004, the sequel was released, although it was not as critically well received.

Mad About The Boy is due for release on October 10.