‘Love/Hate’ in head-to-head with ‘Late Late Toy Show’

TV sensation Love/Hate is on the verge of doing the unthinkable and gaining more viewers for the series four finale than the Late Late Toy Show this Christmas.

Monday night’s penultimate episode saw detectives force dodgy dentist Andrew to co-operate with them to help bring Nidge and his empire down.

Drawing a huge 706,000 viewers, this was still some distance short of the first episode of the current series, which saw a phenomenal 970,600 people tune in.

Ladbrokes have tipped the finale of the series to attract more than 1m viewers and have offered 5/4 for the show to get more viewers than the Late Late Toy Show. With tensions mounting between the show’s main characters, Ladbrokes make Fran a 1/7 shot to be killed off before crime boss Nidge.

Monday night’s episode saw prostitute Debbie the latest character to be killed off, following Dano’s demise last week. The drug-addicted former girlfriend of John Boy, who was killed by Nidge in the second season, overdosed with a friend, Denise.

In a tragic scene, Nidge tells brothel-keeper Janet not to report the deaths and the two bodies are left abandoned in a grotty city centre house.

Actress Susan Loughnane said it was “devastating” to leave the character behind and said she was emotional reading her last lines.

“I had known it was going to happen as I had spoken about it with my agent and we all agreed it was best if this was the last season for Debbie. I felt it was the right time. But reading the script upset me more than I had expected it to. I went out with my mother for a coffee in Malahide and I was sort of in a trance after reading it. She knew I was upset so I had to tell her. I am very attached to Debbie.”

Boyzone star Keith Duffy also made a surprise appearance in the penultimate episode as a gym owner buying drugs from Ado.

The scenes were filmed last April with the Boyzone star was reportedly sworn to secrecy over his appearance. Mr Duffy previously had a long-running stint on Coronation Street as barman Ciarán McCarthy and told the Ray D’Arcy Show he didn’t want the gangland drama’s passionate audience to discriminate against him as an actor because he is so famous for being a pop star.