With the final episode of Love/Hate season 4 being shown on Sunday night, the show's writer Stuart Carolan joined Pat today to discuss the show. 

Carolan confirmed that there are talks in progress concerning a US remake of Love/Hate, saying "they're finalising the deal" and it should be announced "in a matter of weeks":

He also discussed some of the show's more controversial moments:

There have been many debates about the show's portrayal of violence. There has been particular media attention related to the characters' acts of violence against animals, which some have linked with real-life incidents. Carolan addressed the subject, observing that "sometimes there's legitimate criticism, where people like animals and they find it difficult to watch, and I completely understand that". 

However, he also feels that some of the criticisms are unfair, and that "it's easy to just lash out a press release" criticising the show. In terms of violence against human characters, he explains "we're really careful to show the tragedy of each individual, even if it's a bad character... the tragedy of the ending of the human life and its impact on a family. I think if you talk to most people, people will have experienced pain and grief in their own life, and when they see this they can connect with it". He states "we're not randomly trying to shock the nation".

Stuart also discussed his team's attitude towards portraying graphic violence, saying he believes violence has become "commonplace" on TV. He says the show's creative team make use out of different characters and specific filming techniques to help contextualise and portray violent acts and individuals. He states "it's very important to show it in a specific way, and we were very careful about each specific incident":

You can listen to the full interview via the players below:

Originally published Nov 7