Love/Hate On Rialto Channel Is Our Latest TV Addiction

Still feeling lost because Breaking Bad is over? Looking for another epic television show on par with The Sopranos, The Wire, Madmen, Homeland and Game of Thrones? Same… we’ve been scouting around for an equally addictive replacement and think we might have found it! It’s called Love/Hate, and series three kicked off last week on Rialto Channel and is on Monday nights at 8.30pm. Set in the criminal underworld of Dublin, Love/Hate follows the professional and personal lives of competing gangs. If you loved The Sopranos then you will definitely be into this. Director David Caffrey shows the gritty reality of his characters’ volatile lives, capturing the drug addiction, squalor and violence of organised crime and the psychological effect it has on the families of those involved. Series three begins with gangland boss Nidge (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) struggling to keep his gang under control. When one of his men is accidentally kneecapped, his right-hand man Darren (Robert Sheehan) can’t help but retaliate, beginning a series of events with horrific consequences for the rest of the gang. Shot beautifully on HD digital cameras, Love/Hate makes you hold your breath at times, but thankfully Caffrey knows when to lighten the mood with a touch of humour, mostly at Nidge’s expense. Watching the struggle Nidge trying to retain both his power and his nerve is a reminder that maybe our family and work colleagues aren’t so bad after all. Series three is now premiering 8.30pm Mondays on Rialto Channel. If you have SKY, get your first two months of Rialto Channel for half price when you join in January.