Love/Hate star Brian F O’Byrne has told how appearing in the RTE show has given him respect for the Gardai.
The US-based actor plays Detective Moynihan – an undercover officer who is out to catch Nidge no matter what.
And Brian said that meeting Gardai to research his character has given him a lot of respect for the real force.
Respect: Brian was really taken by real life undercover cops | RTE
“I have a lot of respect for the cops in Ireland, from the people that I met. I was really taken by them.
“The thing that struck me the most was that they strive to do the right thing, under serious duress.
“The undercover cops put them in extreme danger and yet they go home at night and take their kids to football, and get up the next day to do it all again.”
Last year’s series finale saw Moynihan faced with the moral challenge of carrying on his sting operation against Nidge, or closing it down to save Tommy dying from a fit.
Currently Brian – who will be seen on screens again Sunday when Love/Hate returns – is busy on set in LA, where he lives, filming a new drama Aquarius with David Duchovny.
Enemy: Brian’s character is out to get Nidge | RTE
And the RTE actor told TV Now he didn’t want to come back to Ireland to play any old cop – after a decade away from the country.
He said: “America is home now and I have a family and I don’t like being away from them – it would have to be something that really appealed in order to do it.
“But Love/Hate is really strong and I’m really glad I did come back for it. I’ve made a couple of really strong friends out of it, which is a bonus.”
He added: “Stuart and I talked a lot about the guy before I signed up, we talked about being kind of opposite to what you’d expect in a lot in drama, his ordinariness and decency, which are not the most spectacular ingredients to play a part.
“Both of us felt that we’d like to have this element throughout the series. His common decency and the pressure that puts on him.”
