Star of ‘gritty’ crime drama with perfect Rotten Tomatoes score defended series against violence criticism

People can't stop raving about a 'gritty' crime drama that has earned itself a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, but not everyone is as keen on the contents of the hit show.

There's so much good TV to watch and catch up on at the minute, ranging from the drama of The Traitors to Netflix's hit Fool Me Once... the choice is endless!

But all eyes are on one particularly 'gritty' BBC crime drama that people just can't get enough of.

If you haven't heard, Kin has taken BBC iPlayer by storm and thousands of Brits have been tuning into the series.

Game of Thrones' Aidan Gillen and Ciarán Hinds portray rival gang members in the series which was co-created by Peter McKenna and Ciaran Donnelly.

It follows the fictional Kinsella crime family in Dublin, Ireland, who are increasingly at odds with a powerful drug cartel.

All hell breaks loose when the hot-headed son of Frank Kinsella (Gillen) gets into a violent confrontation with one of Eamon's (Hinds) men, as the Cunninghams retaliate.

The impressive cast who put on an incredible performance also includes Clare Dunne, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Emmett J. Scanlan (Fool Me Once), and Sam Keeley.

Kin, which was was first broadcast on AMC in 2021, has a 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes score as people have been leaving rave reviews about the eight episodes which make up season one.

RTE

Fans of the series have been left buzzing amid the BBC's recent confirmation that the second series will soon be launching on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

But the former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke, made it clear he doesn't plan on tuning in during a chat with Irish broadcaster Joe Duffy, as he accused Kin of glamourising violence and crime.

Burke said: "If all RTE can provide is a young guy, then a woman using cocaine, then a 17-year-old drinking alcohol in front of his mother and a guy with a very fake Dublin accent again using drugs, what kind of message is this sending out about Irish society?"

But actor Emmett J. Scanlan, who stars as Jimmy Kinsella, has responded to the backlash regarding the show's gripping storyline, saying the ex-mayor seems to have missed the point of it.

He explained: "I don't think that's right at all. I don't think there's anything glamorous about a woman losing her child or a father losing his son. Like I said, this show isn't motivated by violence or status or lust.

"It's motivated by grief, family issues. And whether we like it or not, it's motivated by revenge, this is a gangland family drama.

"You can't write a story without writing it about gangland family drama and there may be some aspects of that that might be uncomfortable, but to say it glamourises it?

RTE

"I think that's coming from people who haven't watched a frame of the show. If having seen the show you still think it glamourises violence, which I 100 per cent don't believe, well then change the channel I guess."

The former Hollyoaks actor said he reckons Kin has still got a lot of life left in it - and he wouldn't rule out a third and even fourth season of the show.

Scanlan told RTE: "I've seen great shows disappear. And I've seen not-so-great shows continue to thrive. So this industry is hugely unpredictable.I hope there will be a season three, I really do.

"That's kind of the energy I like to marinate in anyway. I'm not a negative person. I genuinely have no answer whether it's gonna happen or not, but there are rumblings around the place, positive rumblings, where it might find a new home, it might find a backer and it might go into a season three.

"It certainly has the potential of going to season three and maybe four, who knows what will happen. When the credits rolled [at the end of the second season] I thought, 'It can't end like that'. So fingers crossed."