Love/Hate star Peter Coonan has defended his brutal prison rape scene, but admitted it was very “hard to watch”.
The TV scene showed Fran being held down in the showers while Noely raped him with a broken snooker cue.
And Peter said it was an extremely “tough” moment to shoot – but insisted creator Stuart Carolan was right to include it.
Tough: Peter didn’t find it easy to film scene | RTE
“I went in to work – episodes are given out gradually when shooting – and when that scene came out people were kind of looking at me.
“And I was like, ‘What’s going on. What could it be?’ I had to kind of sit back for a minute and really think about it. I rang Stuart and spoke about it.
“It made sense in regards to the character and the arc of the character and this alpha male being brought down to this level and to be so graphic as well. It was the right choice.”
He added: “It took the best part of 7 or 8 hours to shoot that scene because you need to really give it the time it deserves. We were shooting away all day. The energy that went into it was tough.”
Finale: Peter feels it was necessary to be sensitive | RTE
But Peter told Newstalk it wasn’t easy to be in his shoes while filming was going on.
“It’s part of the job but at the time… that day was tough as well, one of those days where you have to walk away and sit on your own again just to process what was happening,” he said.
“Everybody involved had to be sensitive to the situation as well, not only to the scene and actors but as well as the fact you’re putting yourself out like that.
“And sometimes you have to know you’re making the right decision and trust everyone treats it the way it deserves, with the sensitivity it deserves.”
Meanwhile Peter revealed he didn’t know that Nidge was going to be shot dead by Patrick.
Dead: But Peter didn’t know it was coming | RTE
“I watched it the other night just like everyone else and I didn’t know about Tom’s character being shot,” he said.
“I’d seen an ADR where Siobhan’s character was shot but I didn’t know about Tom’s character.
“I saw Siobhan shot and I kind of accepted that and didn’t really want to see it, I didn’t venture further or ask questions.
“I couldn’t believe Patrick ran down the garden. I thought Nidge would jump the wall. It was quite a strange experience.”
