Love/Hate it: crime drama returns to screen at weekend

Love/Hate fans' wait is almost over as season five of the award-winning television series kicks off this Sunday night on RTÉ One at 9.30pm.

RTÉ have already released a short trailer of what fans can expect.

Tom Vaughan-Lawlor is back as Nidge, and his trail of destruction comes back to haunt him as his enemies circle in the hunt for revenge.

In season four, the increasingly paranoid Nidge handed himself over to gardaí and narrowly avoided prison - but this time around he has had to take out a loan, with a caveat, from an Irish drug-dealer based in Spain.

Pauley (Johnny Ward) is sent back from Spain to keep a watchful eye over Nidge, who struggles to control his empire and gets caught up in even more conflict and betrayal.

Tommy (Killian Scott) is in a coma, and Nidge’s niece Siobhan (Charlie Murphy) is out for revenge, conspiring with Det Insp Moynihan (Brían F O’Byrne) who, having suffered a career setback from the failure of his sting operation, is even more determined to bring Nidge down.

Tensions between Fran and Nidge become violent and erratic as Fran becomes more resentful of Nidge’s authority.

Almost a million people tuned in to the final episode of season four which saw the death of bankrupt dentist Andrew.

While the show is hugely popular, it has been criticised for its strong scenes of violence.

The opening episode of season four was embroiled in controversy when a young teenager was seen machine-gunning a cat to death, which led to over 40 complaints to RTÉ.

The national broadcaster had to clarify that no animals were harmed during the making of this scene. The cat in question, Leo, even made an “appearance” on the Late Late Show to prove she was indeed only acting.

The show has so far been broadcast in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and Israel.

In case people have forgotten the fine details of what has happened in Love/Hate up to now, RTÉ have released a four minute catch-up of season four ahead of the opening episode.