The Love/Hate finale pretty much shook us all to our core on Sunday night, we were faced with the death of three characters, including the shocking demise of the show's lead Nidge, but it was probably those final scenes with Fran that have haunted us most these last few days.

Actor Peter Coonan who plays the character was on Newstalk this morning and told Chris and Ivan what it was like to film, and then watch back those graphic scenes where Fran was attacked in the prison showers.

"It took the best part of 7 or 8 hours to shoot that scene because you need to really give it the time it deserves," he said. "We were shooting away all day. The energy that went into it was tough."

"I went in to work - episodes are given out gradually when shooting - and when that scene came out people were kind of looking at me and I was like, ‘What’s going on. What could it be?’ I had to kind of sit back for a minute and really think about it," he said. "I rang Stuart and spoke about it. It made sense in regards to the character and the arc of the character and this alpha male being brought down to this level and to be so graphic as well. It was the right choice."

Fran has been one of the most popular characters on the show since he joined in season two and while he has been involved in some hard core scenes killing dentists and what not, he admitted he needed to take a bit of time after shooting this particular scene to get his head around what happened; "It’s part of the job but at the time it was... that day was tough as well, one of those days where you have to walk away and sit on your own again just to process what was happening."

He went on to say; "Everybody involved had to be sensitive to the situation as well, not only to the scene and actors but as well as the fact you’re putting yourself out like that and sometimes you have to know you’re making the right decision and trust everyone treats it the way it deserves, with the sensitivity it deserves."

Interestingly, Peter admitted he had no idea that the end of the episode involved Nidge's death; "I watched it the other night just like everyone else and I didn’t know about Tom’s character being shot," he said.

"I’d seen an ADR where Siobhan’s character was shot but I didn’t know about Tom’s character. I saw Siobhan shot and I kind of accepted that and didn’t really want to see it, I didn’t venture further or ask questions."

"I couldn’t believe Patrick ran down the garden. I thought Nidge would jump the wall. It was quite a strange experience."

Peter also added that he was unsure whether there would be a season six or not but he did say it was probably hard going for Stuart Carolan writing the entire five seasons on his own; "It’s quite hard living in that world and he’s the only writer coming up with these stores so it’s up to Stuart to see how he feels."

In the meantime, Peter has set his sights State side and told Chris and Ivan; "My idea was always a 5 year plan, building a good body of work here in Ireland and taking it elsewhere. People know Love/Hate everywhere now. It’s internationally acclaimed, nominated for Best TV Drama with Breaking Bad, a Japanese film, and the Danish series The Killing. It holds a lot of water across the water."

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