Hit Irish TV crime show Kin has been given the green light for a fourth series.

Last summer we reported how cast and crew filmed seasons two and three back-to-back, given the success of the first series.

And with an average of more than 600,000 viewers tuning in each Sunday night and the show proving popular abroad in several countries, RTÉ has commissioned a fourth season.

Insiders say the filming of the next episodes will begin in September.

The drama is Irish TV’s biggest crime series since the hugely successful Love/Hate, which ran for five seasons from 2010 to 2014. Kin was created by Peter McKenna and Ciaran Donnelly.

The show charts the lives of the Kinsellas, a tight-knit crime family who were embroiled in a war against powerful drug kingpins.

The series has been sold to several foreign TV stations, with AMC+ screening it in north America, Australia, Latin America and the UK.

Brendan ‘Bren’ Kinsella, played by Francis Magee, has become the breakout star of series two.

He was first spotted in a short but explosive prison scene towards the tail end of season one, and then at the beginning of season two was released from his sentence early, much to the surprise of most of his family, and has been wreaking havoc ever since.

Father to Michael and Jimmy and brother to Frank and Birdy, Bren’s return spells only fresh disaster and reawakened trauma for all in his wake.

Kin continues tonight on RTÉ One at 9.30pm