Kin star Charlie Cox admits he struggled with Irish accent for role of Dublin mobster

The show follows the lives of the Kinsella family, a small and tight-knit crime family embroiled in a war against a powerful drug mob boss.

Kin has been described by some as being loosely based on Irish crime family and drug cartel the Kinahans, headed up by Daniel Kinahan.

However, RTE insiders have denied the show is based on the life-and-crimes of the Kinahan clan.

In an interview with Express, the British actor said he was initially scared of the role.

“Well, he is Irish, he's from Dublin, so I've never done a Dublin accent before.”

“I find all accents hard, but I work really hard at them, and I can find accents quite freeing once you get them into a good place,” he explained.

"They actually do a lot of the acting work for you because it feels so different from being in the accent.”

Discussing his character, he said: “You know, I've played a few characters who are quite, you know, have violence in them, but I'm not sure I've played anyone who, along with the violence, has extreme vulnerability and is and is also very, very scared.

"And so that was slightly different."

He previously defended the RTE crime drama when it was accused of glamorising violence.

In an interview with NationalWorld.com, Cox spoke about how violence is portrayed on the show.

"With Kin, it’s loosely based on reality, but what I felt when I read it was that it doesn’t glamorise it.”

“Now, maybe people don’t agree with that; maybe you could argue that just having any violence on television for people to watch is glamorising it. I’m not sure if that’s true,” he explained

“I don’t really know that I’ve educated myself enough to talk about that – but what I will say is that when I read it, I felt horrible for these people.”

He also praised showrunner Peter McKenna for writing an incredible script.

“I thought Peter McKenna did an amazing job. Every episode I read, I was like, wow, this is really… it’d be very easy to tell this story and to make it a bit too Hollywood, a bit too on the nose?

“I felt like he had many moments, in many scenes, where characters did something that I think is unexpected, but unexpected in a truthful way.”

RTÉ recently announced that the show is set to return for a second season.

The programme, which will air on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, is set to begin production this summer.

Produced by BRON Studios and Headline Pictures, in association with RTÉ, the show is set to reach a global audience as streaming rights were snapped up by American streaming giant AMC+.

Starring Clare Dunne, Aidan Gillen, and Ciaran Hinds, the show will be broadcast in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Iberia, Latin America and the UK.

Season one of the gritty crime show has an average of over 621,000 viewers on RTÉ One and to date 2.7 million streams on RTÉ Player, making it the most successful drama in Ireland last year.