Forbidden LOVE

Tom Cullen and Lola Petticrew hide their secret passion in 1970s Belfast

- WORDS: REBECCA FLETCHER. SEAN MARLAND PHOTOS: 5. C4. SHUTTERSTOCK

Set against a background of violence at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland in 1975, C4’s four-part drama Trespasses tells the story of Catholic teacher Cushla Lavery (Bloodlands’ Lola Petticrew).

Cushla is working nights in her family’s Belfast pub when she meets and falls for Michael Agnew (Downton Abbey's Tom Cullen), an older, married Protestant barrister.

The risky romance proves an escape for Cushla, whose hopes and dreams have been frustrated by the daily grind over the years, but her drunk, sharp-tongued mother, Gina (The Crown's Gillian Anderson), knows that she’s playing a very dangerous game. And as the romance secretly blossoms amid the bombings and sectarian tensions. Cushla finds herself pulled between duty and desire.

The drama sees Anderson return to Northern Ireland where she filmed three seasons of The Fall, playing detective Stella Gibson, a decade ago.