A SIZEABLE NUMBER of important characters have been offed over the five seasons of Love/Hate – unsurprising when you consider this is a show that basically revolves around shootings, beatings, and crime, crime crime.
Just in case the headline wasn’t enough of a hint, there are lots and lots of SPOILERS in here. If you don’t want to know what happens, do not proceed past the creepy Nidgeface buffer.
Let’s get cracking, then, with our definitive ranking of Love/Hate’s most shocking deaths.
13. Hughie (Season 1)
The drug-addicted brother of original kingpin John Boy, Hughie had probably the least graceful exit from the show – he accidentally shot himself while drugged to the gills.
Ah LAD.
12. Robbie Treacy (Season 1)
Robbie’s death quite literally set the tone for the entire series, happening within the first five minutes of the first episode.
Hi Robbie. Bye Robbie.
11. The Dentist (Season 4)
Who DIDN’T know the Dentist had it coming? The man himself, it appears.
Suffocated with a plastic bag by the very man he tried to help. Never trust Fran.
10. Dano (Season 4)
Look, with a dad in the IRA and a nasty temper, it was no surprise that Dano would come to a sticky end.
He’s taken out to the woods by his IRA cronies, kneecapped, and left to die. All to the strains of This Is A Rebel Song by Sinéad O’Connor. What a fate.
9. Lizzie (Season 5)
Despite being responsible for one of the show’s most talked-about deaths (more about that later), Lizzie herself came to a fairly quick and unremarkable end.
She’s taken out by one of Nidge’s young helpers after planning a hit on Sir Baldylocks himself. Seeya.
8. Debbie (Season 4)
The death of prostitute/drug runner Debbie was certainly unexpected, but not as gasp-worthy as others in the series - a bad batch of heroin left her and a pal dead in the penultimate episode of season 4.
7. Jimmy (Season 1)
Wrongly accused of killing Darren’s brother Robbie in the first episode, Jimmy was attacked and ‘questioned’ by Nidge, Darren and Tommy before being shot by Hughie in front of his wife and child for no good reason.
6. Wayne (Season 4)
Nasty piece of work, that Wayne. With a bad taste in friends.
The cat-killer was offed in the coldest of cold blood by his mate. His mate! This show, lads.
5. Linda (Season 2)
No character has had a more tragic arc than Linda, Fran’s wife (and Nidge’s sometime mistress), who was horrifically injured in a John Boy-approved pipe bomb attack on their home.
Linda couldn’t cope with her injuries and took her own life at the end of season 2 – actress Denise McCormick won an IFTA for her performance.
4. John Boy (Season 2)
The death of kingpin John Boy was sudden and completely unexpected – to him, anyway.
Old JB had enlisted Darren to kill Ado, but in the end was double-crossed by the blue-hoodied assassin, who turned the gun on John Boy instead. Oof.
3. Git (Season 3)
IRA boss Git suffered one of the most violent deaths of the series, getting the beating of his life from Tommy, Darren and Nidge after he raped Tommy’s missus, Siobhán.
One beer keg to the head sorted him out, and the gang laid him to rest in a building site. A suitable death for a very nasty man.
2. The Cat (Season 4)
Forget the deaths of countless human beings – it was the death of a poor innocent cat that got the whole nation talking.
Gunned down by that upstart Wayne while he was ‘minding’ some weapons, the death inspired a slew of complaints, parody Twitter accounts, and a Late Late appearance.
#NeverForget
1. Darren (Season 3)
OK, so Darren had crossed paths with just about every character in the show – a comeuppance of sorts was on the cards.
But who could have predicted him being gunned down in broad daylight by former accomplice Lizzie? Why couldn’t the show’s writers let the baby-faced killer stick around for just one more season? Just too much.
