McGinnity in dark about fate of ‘Love/Hate’ character

Love/Hate star Aoibhinn McGinnity has revealed she is still in the dark about the fate of her character in the hotly anticipated, fourth series of the gritty drama.

The Monaghan actress, who has played gang boss Nidge’s wife Trish since the show started, joked that she has asked writer Stuart Carolan to give her a gun in the next series so she won’t be killed off.

And she said yesterday she has to work on her very convincing northside Dublin accent before jumping into the role when filming starts again in the capital in February.

She said: “It does take a tiny bit of warming up coming up towards the read through. It’s like muscle memory. It’s in a different place in your mouth.”

She said she has yet to find out what will happen to her character when the fourth series bursts onto our screens.

She said on The Ray D’Arcy Show: “I haven’t got a notion, not a clue. Everyone thinks I’m lying.

“We’re all friends. We do get to that point at wrap parties where I’m like ‘Stuart [Carolan], any chance of giving me a gun or something?’

“I don’t know what’s happening and I can’t wait to find out.”

She said she had been taken aback by the reaction to the show which has become RTÉ’s most successful drama in years.

She said: “In the first year we all saw the script and the cast and there were some amazing, experienced actors, and then there were the ones that were new and keen. I was a newbie.

“We knew it was good and then it just built from there but I don’t think any of us expected this year.”

Despite the terrifying violence doled out by her character’s gangland boss husband, she said there is a tenderness to their relationship.

She said: “It’s a funny one. It can be lovely. They make up as quick as they fight although that doesn’t happen as easily anymore but especially in the first year you could tell their relationship was years old and kind of lovely and [they were] comfortable with each other.”

She said she just had to “go for it” in the bathroom scene where she left the door open as she sat on the toilet.

“There was sound effects,” she said.

Despite her role in the country’s edgiest gangland drama, the actress, who is set to star in Anglo The Musical in the Olympia next week, said she would love to star in a West End show.

“I went to London to train and I was there for a year afterwards. I trained in musical theatre. There are certain musicals I love.

“I would absolutely love to do Chicago. The two parts of Roxy and Velma are just fantastic. I don’t have a rigid plan but I do have a loose one. I have a few things I really want to do but they are not set in stone.”

And she also disclosed she is childhood friends with the country’s other famous Monaghan actress, Charlene McKenna.

She said: “We are best friends from about 10 or 11.

“We went to Monaghan youth theatre together and did a few plays. She was a year ahead of me in school all through secondary school.”