The First Images From 'Trespasses' Depict Forbidden Love During the Troubles

Forbidden Love is a tale as old as time, as anyone who had to read William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in high school can tell you. The question of whether love can truly conquer all — be it warring families, competing religions, or societal restrictions — is at the heart of many of our favorite stories. But, as far as settings go, the Bard's tale of warring families in 14th century Verona's got nothing on Louise Kennedy's Trespasses, a story of 1970s Northern Ireland and a relationship set in the shadow of the period of sectarian violence known as the Troubles. 

Kennedy's novel follows the story of Cushla, a Catholic primary school teacher who lives just outside of Belfast in a small town that British soldiers heavily occupy. Ground down by the necessities of daily living, she's lonely, still grieving her father's death two years prior, and trying to hold her crumbling family together. So when she meets a controversial (and very married) Protestant barrister named Michael, it's a chance encounter that changes both of their lives. Caught between allegiance to her community and dangerous passion, Cushla must keep their affair secret, on literal pain of death. 

Fresh off her turn in the Troubles-set drama Say Nothing, Lola Petticrew plays Cushla, with Tom Cullen (The Gold) as Michael. Gillian Anderson (Scoop) also stars as Cushla's mother, described as a "glorious wreck" constantly sparring and at odds with her daughter.

Here's the series synopsis. 

1975, in a town outside Belfast. Whilst working one night behind the bar of her family pub, serving a mixed crowd including the locally stationed soldiers, Catholic schoolteacher Cushla meets Michael, an older Protestant married man, who often defends IRA suspects and is friends with cultured Bohemians who enrage and intrigue Cushla. Worlds apart, Cushla knows a relationship like this spells all kinds of trouble, but they are irresistibly drawn to one another.  

In a place where loose lips cost lives and danger lurks in the shadows, amidst the fear and paranoia, this illicit affair between Cushla and Michael ignites and burns bright...

The four-part drama also stars Martin McCann (Blue Lights), Emily Taaffe (The Beast Must Die), Barry Ward (Protection), Lisa Dwyer Hogg (Blackshore), Lorcan Cranitch (Bloodlands), Frank Blake (Normal People), Gary Lydon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Lalor Roddy (Bodkin), and Oisin Thompson (My Left Nut). 

Ailbhe Keogan (Bad Sisters) adapted Trespasses for the screen in her first lead writing credit, with Dawn Shadforth (Mood) directing. Drama Commissioning Editors Rebecca Holdsworth and Gwawr Lloyd commissioned the series for Channel 4. Executive producers include Anderson, Kennedy, and Finola Dwyer, alongside Amanda Posey (An Education) for Wildgaze Films. The producer is Maria Mulhall (The Dry).

Filming wrapped in December, and the drama is slated to air on Channel 4 later this year. Trespasses doesn't yet have an American distributor, but given the buzzy cast attached, the odds are decent that it will find one in short order.