Traumatising Love/Hate scene is first time Barry Keoghan scared the s**t out of people

Charlie Herbert

People in the UK have only just discovered one of Ireland’s best ever shows.

Love/Hate, which has been labelled by one of its stars as the “greatest ever Irish television show”, is now available to watch in the UK.

Originally airing on RTÉ from 2010 to 2014, people in Britain can now watch all five seasons of Love/Hate on ITVX.

The gangster series is set in the drug-fuelled criminal underworld of Dublin and follows Darren Treacy (Misfits star Robert Sheehan), as he returns to the capital after hiding in Spain to escape police.

When back in Ireland though, he finds out that his ex-girlfriend Rosie (Oscar nominee Ruth Negga) has moved on and his brother has been the victim of a drive-by shooting by a rival gang.

This sparks a gang war as Darren and his friends seek revenge for the shooting.

Watching the series almost a decade on from when it finished, many of its cast have gone on to become household names.

The cast of Love/Hate also includes Avengers actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as fan favourite Nidge, alongside Happy Valley’s Charlie Murphy, Game of Thrones’ Aidan Gillen and a fresh-faced Barry Keoghan before his days of Saltburn fame.

Another of the series’ stars is Kieran O’Reilly, who previously described Love/Hate in a tweet as the “greatest ever Irish television show”.

Some have only just been discovering Love/Hate and were quick to sing its praises – which you can read here.

@rteone This scene from the opening of Love Hate series 4 is FOREVER burned into our brains… ? (We can’t show you the full scene here, but you can watch all five seasons of Love Hate over on #rteplayer) #barrykeoghan #irishtv #beforesaltburn ♬ original sound – RTÉ One

One scene in particular involving Barry Keoghan has people riled up

Although viewers are loving getting their teeth into the show, there is one scene in particular that has made quite the impression.

Its fourth season opens with Barry Keoghan’s character Wayne shooting an innocent cat dead and then laughing about it.

While any feline fans will obviously find this a hard watch, it is fair to say the scene has also haunted Keoghan himself.

“I’ll never get away from that cat,” the actor previously said.

“I was in the MetLife stadium in New Jersey about two years ago. I think there was about 90,000 people there and someone pulled me and said: ‘You’re the guy that shot the cat’.

“I just thought: ‘Ah here, I’m halfway across the world and someone said it’.”

The reaction to the season four opening in Ireland was almost as unhinged as the scene itself.

RTÉ even had to bring the cat onto The Late Late Show to prove to the public that it was not actually harmed.