Forbidden Love Meets the Troubles in PBS’s Trespasses

BOSTON — PBS is bringing Louise Kennedy’s acclaimed debut novel “Trespasses” to American television with a four-part limited series about forbidden love during the height of Northern Ireland’s sectarian conflict. The co-production between British broadcaster Channel 4 and PBS Masterpiece is set to premiere on PBS.

Set in 1975 on the outskirts of Belfast, the drama follows Cushla Lavery, a 24-year-old Catholic primary school teacher, and Michael Agnew, an older, married Protestant barrister. Lola Petticrew plays Cushla, while Tom Cullen portrays Michael. The series is directed by Dawn Shadforth and adapted by screenwriter Ailbhe Keogan.

The story is told entirely from Cushla’s perspective, so viewers discover information only as she does. Alongside teaching, she works part-time at a local pub owned by her brother, Eamonn, played by Martin McCann. The pub serves both Catholic and Protestant customers.

Michael frequently defends young Catholics accused of minor offenses, seeking to prevent them from being recruited by paramilitaries. His work makes him a target for extremists on both sides of the political divide, while his relationship with Cushla carries severe risks because of the era’s religious and political divisions.

The year 1975 was among the most complex and violent periods of the Northern Irish conflict. A temporary and fragile truce between the British government and the Provisional Irish Republican Army, or IRA, was declared early that year, but sectarian violence by loyalist paramilitary groups including the Ulster Volunteer Force, or UVF, and Ulster Defence Association, or UDA, surged. Neighborhoods were strictly segregated, with boundaries enforced through violence, intimidation, and constant surveillance.

The production keeps much of the period’s physical violence in the background, conveying it through radio broadcasts, television news reports, and firsthand accounts from school children. British military patrols, anti-Catholic graffiti, and the routine practice of checking beneath vehicles for trip-wire car bombs are part of the characters’ daily lives.

Kennedy’s 2022 novel achieved significant critical and commercial success after its release. She grew up in Holywood, County Down, near Belfast, and drew on childhood memories of the Troubles. The book appeared when Kennedy was 55, after she had worked as a chef, and won the British Book Award for Debut Novel of the Year before being shortlisted for the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Keogan, whose previous writing credits include the dark comedy series *Bad Sisters*, retained the novel’s focus on realistic, naturalistic dialogue. Shadforth, known for *His Dark Materials* and *Trust*, uses a filming style that emphasizes the claustrophobic reality of the era, often framing scenes to suggest that security forces or suspicious neighbors are watching the characters.

The cast includes Welsh actor Tom Cullen, recognized for *Downton Abbey* and *Knightfall*, and Petticrew, a rising Northern Irish actress known for *Dating Amber* and *Bloodlands*. Emmy and Golden Globe winner Gillian Anderson plays Gina Lavery, Cushla’s mother. Gina is grieving the recent death of her husband and struggling with severe alcoholism, embodying the quiet, domestic toll of the conflict’s trauma. Anderson’s casting marks her return to a Northern Irish-set drama after playing Superintendent Stella Gibson in the Belfast-based crime series *The Fall*.

Cushla’s students bring the wider social impact of the Troubles into the school setting. She takes a protective interest in Davy McGeown, played by Daithi Ó Haragain, a young boy from a mixed-religion family. Davy’s Catholic father was severely beaten by loyalists after marrying a Protestant woman, played by Emily Taaffe.

Cushla also tries to support Davy’s older brother, Tommy, portrayed by Conlaoch Gough-Cunningham. Following the assault on his father, Tommy is increasingly drawn toward violence.

At the primary school, Cushla’s colleague and confidant Gerry Harkin, played by Oisin Thompson, openly challenges sectarian sentiment during a school assembly, illustrating the small, everyday acts of resistance that occurred within divided communities during the era.