LOVE IRELAND

Ballykissangel launched 30 years ago, starting the unlikely romance between Stephen Tompkinson’s English priest and Dervla Kirwan’s atheist barmaid. MARION MCMULLEN looks back

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STAR-CROSSED LOVERS: Assumpta Fitzgerald (Dervla Kirwan) with Father Clifford (Stephen Tompkinson) in Ballykissangel

AN English priest from Manchester transplanted into an Irish town filled with colourful characters was at the heart of Sunday night drama Ballykissangel.

The comedy drama launched on BBC1 30 years ago on February 11, 1996, and starred Drop The Dead Donkey’s Stephen Tompkinson as Catholic priest Father Stephen Clifford with Dervla Kirwan as Assumpta Fitzgerald serving up drinks at the local pub.