Love/Hate

2010
8.5| 0h30m| TV-MA| en| More Info
Released: 03 October 2010 Canceled
Producted By: Octagon Films
Country: Ireland
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/love_hate.html
Synopsis

Modern-day underworld characters Nidge and John Boy wrestle for control of Dublin's illicit drug trade in this forceful crime drama.

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Reviews

scancook This show only really take shape at Season 4. For the first three seasons feel like drug dealing for dummies and IRA for dummies. Season four really sees this show find its feet , it's well paced writing has catapulted it to levels of the Wire and the Sopranos. Great performances from very convincing actors playing street wise thugs unlike most shows that use spoilt brats trying to play streetwise characters. Very raw, well paced, chilling and unpredictable. Very well directed , introducing each plot in a collage of images at introduction to each episode , preparing for what's ahead. I look forward to season five.
mairz I'm a long time visitor to the IMDb website and find it extremely useful when I need information or reviews of TV shows. This, however, is my first review as other contributors have eloquently and at length written about my favourites(Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Homeland, Hell on Wheels, The Walking Dead, to name but a few). Like the above programmes, the storyline in Love/Hate is on-running - an essential criterion for me as I have no patience for shows where each episode is self-contained with a beginning, middle and end, with perhaps an on-going back story of minor importance (I'm thinking here of popular court-room dramas where the issue at the beginning is done and dusted by the end of the episode).Like other Irish contributors on here I initially dismissed it as yet another one of those mediocre Irish productions of the 1980's '90's characterised by a lot of poor acting and lame plot lines. As a result I only decided to give it a whirl after hearing it much discussed on the radio and having watched all of Damages, Dexter, Breaking Bad, the Tudors, Homeland many other programmes. And boy was I ever surprised, my standards and expectations had been raised by the American and British TV shows (check out Line of Duty)and Love/Hate in my opinion is genuinely in the premier league of the TV space. Apart from anything else it has a smashing and (like the best TV shows)completely unpredictable storyline - there is nothing like not knowing where a series will take you next to keep you mesmerised. Add to that some stellar performances by the lead actors (especially Tom Vaughan Lawlor (Nidge, Aiden Gillen (of Game of Thrones)(John Boy) and Peter Coonan (Fran). What is also good about the show is its character development and evolution, something that viewers of today have come to expect. SPOILER ALERT. Nidge, for example starts off a kind of happy-go-lucky rogue, but by season 4 has evolved into a dark, angry and (even more) ruthless thug. END OF SPOILER ALERT. The music is great too - there is no theme tune per se. Each and every episode starts and ends with a different song or piece of music, from rap to rock, crooners to classical....a nice touch.To the reviewer above who found Nidge so detestable, I would suggest that he/she watch some interviews on you tube. The real life personalities are NOTHING like they characters they portray, which attests to the calibre of their acting. Some have criticised the show for its violence and for not portraying what are essentially violent, lawless criminals in a more negative light, but what about Dexter, the psychopath serial killer? Did we EVER want him to receive his comeuppance? Or Tony Soprano, for that matter? Or what about 'Hannibal' which contains some truly horrifyingly violent scenes.So yes to summarise, I would highly recommend this show, however with one or two caveats: the first season, while good is the weakest, but writers really up their game from season 2 onwards. Viewers unfamiliar with the Dublin landscape, won't, of course have the added attraction of seeing Nidge and co in familiar backdrops and surroundings. Plus it has has to be admitted that some of the colloquialisms (bleedin', brasser, knackered, a few scoops) may be beyond certain viewers, its still pretty comprehensible (I think!.
decfry I too had dismissed this show. After all it was an RTE production and when did they last produce anything of merit? I apologise.I tend to ignore terrestrial t.v and watch a lot of HBO box sets. The Wire is beyond everything else in my humble opinion. But credit where it's due Love/hate is something really special. Top notch acting (where did they all come from?), great story lines, tension, chases and a production that looks like money was spent on it. I was totally engrossed and the three series boxset flew by.This is brilliantly done. It deserves to be a worldwide hit. Congratulations to all involved. Really looking forward to series Four.
btsarno Definitely one of Irish Television's best ever series. Written by Stuart Carolan, who also wrote some episodes of Raw (another excellent drama), this series is the story of modern gangsterism on the streets of Dublin.The acting is chillingly effective from two of the main gangster leads, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Aiden Gillen. Gillen, especially, is a menacing, ruthless, bloodthirsty, totally amoral drug boss. Robert Sheehan plays a younger gang member who returns to Dublin from Spain when he has been in enforced exile. Naturally, he teams up with Nidge, his old buddy (Vaughan-Taylor), mayhem ensues. Killian Scott, Aoibhinn McGinnity, Charlie Murphy and Ruth Bradley also shine.Now in it's third season, beginning next Sunday (RTE One, Sunday, November 13th, 2012), this is a series to be seen by the world, not just Ireland.As a drama, I would put this on par with the best of the best of BBC productions.