Brenda Power: ‘RTÉ’s Kin is reality TV that can wake us up to our gang scourge’

evoke.ie:

Since the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, I’m guessing that RTÉ was thrilled that the first episode of its new gang crime drama Kin prompted angry calls to have it taken off the air.

Nothing was more likely to bump up audience figures, already at a very health halfa-million mark, than a slew of complaints about its graphic brutality.

Best of all, Dublin inner city Councillor Christy Burke demanded that it be withdrawn immediately, and for the most complimentary of reasons: not that it was too far-fetched, but that it was too realistic.

When you’re promoting an expensive new drama, featuring international acting and scriptwriting talent, that’s the sort of publicity you can’t buy.