An Intoxicating and Heartbreaking Troubles Romance
Channel 4's powerful new drama Trespasses brings Louise Kennedy's masterly novel to life with devastating effect. Set in 1975 Belfast during the height of the Troubles, this adaptation tells the story of a Catholic teacher drawn into a dangerous affair with a Protestant barrister that proves both intoxicating and ultimately heartbreaking.
Life in a Divided Community
The drama introduces us to Cushla, played by Lola Petticrew, a primary-school teacher in her mid-twenties living in a small town outside Belfast. Her life is shadowed by constant tension as she divides her time between teaching and working shifts in her brother's pub. The school environment is dominated by bigoted priests who preach hatred against Protestants, despite one of Cushla's students coming from a mixed-faith family.
Cushla takes particular interest in this vulnerable child, who often arrives at school without a coat, and his older brother who shares her love of reading. Her compassion leads her to drive them home to their Protestant estate, risking brick attacks on her car. When the boys' father suffers a brutal beating that breaks his legs and skull, Cushla redoubles her support for the family.
Evenings in the pub bring different dangers, with British soldiers creating constant tension that could erupt into violence at any moment. When Cushla returns home, she finds her widowed mother Gina, portrayed by Gillian Anderson, drowning in loneliness and gin, adding another layer of emotional burden to her already strained life.
The Dangerous Affair
The narrative takes its dramatic turn when Michael Agnew enters the pub. Played by Tom Cullen, Michael is a Protestant barrister who defends young Catholics, believing this is his personal contribution to slowing Northern Ireland's cycle of violence. This stance has made him unpopular with both communities - Protestants see him as a traitor, while Catholics believe he legitimises the repressive judicial system.
Michael is everything Cushla shouldn't want: he's a walking target, he's married, and he's at least a decade older, possibly two. Yet from their first encounter, when he suavely orders Jameson whiskey, Cushla falls for him instantly. Cullen portrays Michael with the tousled hair and tight waistcoat of a romantic hero, his charisma making him what one character describes as a "dreamy old goat."
Their affair begins in Michael's city apartment, with Van Morrison playing tastefully in the background, but the shadow of the Troubles looms over every moment. Michael's grand speeches about choosing "freedom over fear" sound inspiring on isolated hillocks away from the urban warfare, but the reality of their situation proves far more dangerous.
Masterful Storytelling and Performances
While Trespasses initially appears to follow familiar melodramatic patterns - the woman in love with a married man, the teacher helping a deprived pupil, the daughter caring for an alcoholic parent - the Troubles context elevates each storyline beyond cliché. The narrative is constructed with deceptive skill, where small moments and minor characters become crucial as the story progresses.
Lola Petticrew carries the drama in nearly every scene, delivering a performance that could easily have tipped into naivety but instead maintains perfect balance between Cushla's passionate energy and cold reality. Her portrayal makes the character's journey first rousing, then utterly heartbreaking as the consequences of her choices unfold.
Tom Cullen brings necessary gravitas to Michael, making believable both his charisma and his complicated political stance. Without his convincing performance, the central relationship wouldn't hold the power it does.
The drama avoids simplistic political messaging, instead focusing on how individual hopes and feelings are crushed by events much larger than any single person. As the various story strands knit together, agonising ironies pile up, leading toward the foreshadowed climax where Cushla will be picking through the smoking ashes of her brother's pub.
Trespasses proves to be more than just another Troubles drama - it's a powerful exploration of how love and personal connection struggle to survive in an environment dominated by sectarian hatred and violence. The adaptation does full justice to Kennedy's novel, creating television that's both politically resonant and deeply moving on a human level.
Trespasses is available to watch on Channel 4 now.
