Darklands' Judith Roddy has weighed in on the series being compared to Love/Hate. 

The gritty gangland series began on Virgin Media One last month, drawing many comparisons to the RTÉ series. Speaking to Her, Judith, who plays Bernie, said she was "quite proud" of the comparisons between the two shows, as she opened up about her character Bernie. "I actually am quite proud of the comparisons between Darklands and Love/Hate," she said. "It is such a wonderful Irish show that we can stand by, that has reached out across many countries and is very recognisable. "To be compared to a show like that, with incredible production, incredible actors, incredible storylines - then, I think that's really good. All this work feeds off each other, and it's exciting to have that as a reference point." She explained how she had been drawn to the role of her Darklands character Bernie as she is a "strong female lead" and a "badass."   "The [gang leader] is usually played by a man," she continued. "So it's nice to have those opportunities to bring out different aspects of your own personality that you never get to show in other roles. "[Bernie's] quite a badass, too - it's just fun. There's just many strings to her bow, which is quite fun - instead of playing the wife or the mother [or something like that]." Looking towards the end of the series, the actress explained that Bernie is going to come into play "a good bit" very soon - as she hinted at what else fans can expect. "Once the series progresses up to the final episode, it does hurdle a long quite fast, the stakes get quite high," she teased. "Bernie comes into play a good bit towards episode six. She's not to be messed with, that's for sure. "There were a few scenes towards episode six that were really fun to explore and Mark [O'Connor, series creator] was deciding which ending [to go with]. There were a few of them, and it became about choosing the right one. It's quite exciting, it keeps you alive - those episodes towards the end were really fun." The actress also appeared in season two of Derry Girls as Ms. De Brún, the new, hip English teacher at Our Lady Immaculate College who made a fairly big impression on the characters and viewers alike after her big entrance. "You come in at a certain pitch - there's no half measures with a character like that," she said, discussing her character's entrance on the show.  "It was as written. I'm essentially just playing out what Lisa McGee wrote. "That was really, really fun. And I'm a fan of Derry Girls anyways. It was just such nice thing to walk in to a second series of something that - essentially, I'm riding the coattails of a very successful show already and just adding my signature alongside it. "It's just fantastic. I feel lucky to have stepped in on a production that's already been a huge hit. I mean, that's a win-win."

• Darklands episode 5 airs tonight, Monday 4^th October at 9pm on Virgin Media One.