Blood and guts a part of growing up for Carolan

Just before Christmas, the third season finale of gritty TV drama Love/Hate ended in a shower of bullets.

The blood and guts flying mostly belonged to Darren, played by Robert Sheehan, as almost 1m viewers watched Lizzie (Caoilfhionn Dunne) gun down the series’ heart-throb.

Blood and guts are something that, in a way, creator and writer Stuart Carolan has grown up with. The grim reality of gangland violence was what his mother, as a medical professional, encountered all too frequently in her work.