“It Just Knocked Me Out” Tom Vaughan Lawlor Talks About Love/Hate Impact In Interview

We're not too far away now from Season 4 of Love/Hate and the entire country is suffering from Love/Hate withdrawals. Tom Vaughan Lawlor dropped into Marian Finucane this morning to discuss the role of Nidge and where Season 4 would take the character.

Of course, Nidge has changed a lot over the series, something that Vaughan Lawlor is entirely aware of: "Nidge has now come to centre stage. There are moments he has where he questions the universe and his relation to the universe. There are moments when he looks at himself and the life he leads and he wonders what it means. What power means."

Vaughan Lawlor also spoke about how humbled he was by the popularity of the show: "We had this amazing experience. I was in a Tesco and I came out and met this guy who said 'you're the guy from Love/Hate aren't you? In the shelter in Harcourt Street we put the money together for the boxset and we watch it every Wednesday.'

"It just knocked me out. I said to some of the lads why don't we go in and do a question and answering session. We went in and they were incredible. What was incredibly humbling was that had printed off pictures for us to sign them for us.

One guy called John who told me he was a heroin addict, he had been clean from heroin for nine weeks and he asked me would I write "To John, stay clean, love Nidge."

"You realise the power of something. It's just extraordinary."

Vaughan Lawlor also spoke about the issue of violence: "I think what Stuart Carolan does is he is very specific about showing the repercussions of the violence and these killings. One of the moments that really affected me is when Darren goes to a house to kill a man, then he sees the wife and kills her. When he is going to the door, he hears a baby cry. That bit, as a father, really hits on an incredible level."

"He never writes story for shock value. People ask me does Love/Hate glamorise killings. It’s a lazy question. Stuart doesn’t set up a scene or a storyline without showing the effects it has on the community."

To hear the full interview with Tom, head on over to the RTE player. 

Love/Hate will be back on screens October 6th.