Nine’s two-part TV series about the life of cricketing legend Shane Warne has debuted to lacklustre ratings and a shellacking from fans.

The first part of Warnie aired on Nine on Sunday night, drawing 528,000 viewers – as well as plenty of scathing reactions.

Industry publication Mumbrella reports that the Warnie opener was beaten by Seven’s Dancing with the Stars (645,000 metro viewers) and followed by Ten’s MasterChef Australia (460,000) and Grand Designs Revisited on ABC (377,000).

Among those unimpressed was the late spin king’s father, Keith Warne, who is said to have been disappointed by the highly anticipated Nine drama.

Entertainment reporter Peter Ford said he had spoken to Mr Warne on Sunday, just before the first episode aired. Mr Warne was “not angry, he’s just disappointed”.

“The main thing is he feels they didn’t portray the growth of Shane from the larrikin teenager to the mature adult who wanted to make a difference in the world,” Ford told Melbourne’s 3AW radio on Monday.

“He feels there were some inaccuracies that didn’t reflect well on Shane. Such as the time he took up with Liz Hurley.

“Which is correct but in the show it’s presented that he did that during the time he was still married to Simone, and Keith is quite adamant there was a distance between those two things happening.

“He’s not angry, he’s just disappointed by the result.”

Warne died suddenly on March 4 last year, aged 52, while on a trip to Thailand.

The news sent shockwaves around the cricket world, as friends and family came to grips with how enormous his contributions were to sport and entertainment, with a passion for golf, poker, fast cars and a flamboyant live-life-to-the-fullest lifestyle.

The mini-series was announced in September last year, sparking criticism from Warne’s family. Daughters Brooke and Summer Warne called out Nine, saying the plan to dramatise their father’s life was “beyond disrespectful”.

After lengthy negotiations with the network, the sisters gave their blessing to the show.

Tweet from @rickeyrecricket

Tweet from @terkey76

Sunday’s Warnie opener began with the cricketer getting dropped from the Australian team in the West Indies in 1999. It then returns to the beginning of his career, including his devastation at getting delisted by St Kilda, getting selected for Australia and then dropped, the so-called “ball of the century”, and a gambling scandal.

It also covered Warne’s love life with his wife Simone Callahan.

But many fans were left underwhelmed.

Tweet from @DrewyG

Tweet from @coffeestar2010

“30 minutes of the Warnie telemovie … atrocious. What an embarrassment,” wrote former Cricket Australia communications officer Matt Cenin.

“There’s so much wrong with Warnie but the fact Steve Waugh looks nothing like Steve Waugh is pretty hard to look past,” wrote sports producer Lachlan McKirdy.

The second, and final, episode of Warnie airs on Nine at 7.30pm Monday. It will also  be available to stream on 9Now.