Currently on The Guardian home page. First episode being screened on Channel 5 tonight.
We’re cool again.
Showing an Ireland in which God is slowly dying, Love/Hate is also located at a time when the economy is expiring quickly. Although the residue of the Euro-driven boom is still visible in the glittering buildings and the fleets of expensive wheels in the car showroom where one character works, the money has run out. “Ireland is fucked for the next 10 years,” predicts John Boy in one speech before optimistically outlining the killings to be made by criminals at a time when people are desperate to sell and downsize. In the third season, the dynamics of Irish terrorism since the peace process also feature.
The running of a thumping underscore beneath much of the dialogue feels like too obvious an attempt to attract viewers who are younger and actually or spiritually American.
But, although unlikely to become a hit on the scale of RTE’s previous prize export – Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs Brown’s Boys – this drama is another example of the way in which a national broadcaster often previously associated with caution has seized the possibilities of a less reverent Ireland to create ambitious shows. Ireland isn’t yet the new Scandinavia or even New Zealand for TV drama but this series makes me keen to see what RTE and Stuart Carolan might do next.
Ah here
Fair play though, in fairness.
Right so.
Thanks Nick Moran
