I’m so evil that even my family can’t watch Red Rock

HE’S such a monster on TV that even his own family struggle to watch him.

Actor Stephen Jones loves playing evil gang boss Laser Byrne in TV3 soap Red Rock but says the character terrifies his own relatives.

‘Some of my aunties can’t watch some scenes because they don’t want to see me doing the bad things. I get a laugh out of that,’ he says.

His psychopath character has murdered rivals, blackmailed cops, tortured snitches and threatened innocent families with death.

Anyone who gets in the way of Laser’s money-making drugs empire is wiped out.

It’s a great role for an actor, but Dubliner Stephen claims he is a big teddy bear in real life.

‘I’m a bit of a softy to be honest. I’m a fairly laid back TEddY bEAR: Stephen Jones plays thug Laser kind of guy and generally happy-go-lucky,’ he says.

‘I’m from Tallaght and my mates give me a lot of stick for playing Laser because I’d be the least hard man out of any of our group of friends or anyone at school. I’ve never even been in a fight in my life.

‘They get a laugh out of the fact people watch me on TV and would be terrified of me.’

The 31-year-old also gets a kick out of seeing the public’s reaction to meeting him.

‘People have been coming up saying, “I hope you’re not as bad as that in real life.” It’s all good fun,’ he says.

He said thug Laser hasn’t yet finished his violent spree and needs to be reined in.

Enter Hollywood star Patrick Bergin, who joined the series earlier this month as bent detective Rory Walsh’s mysterious grandfather.

‘There’s a scene coming up on Monday (tomorrow) when I’m acting opposite Patrick and the two characters, who are well able for it, come together in a scene.

‘There might be a slight jitter from Laser. Up to now he’s a one-track psychopath but these two men know each other and have crossed paths before. It all gets revealed in the next couple of weeks.’