Interview with Amanda Posey - Executive Producer

How would you summarise the series?
Trespasses is a story of forbidden love set against a backdrop of conflict — about ordinary people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times. It’s universal, funny and very sexy.

Trespasses is Wildgaze Films’ first television series. How did this project come about?
I was really lucky to get to read Louise Kennedy’s novel in manuscript, and I fell in love with it straight away. What was really interesting about it was that it’s a beautiful love story that is also very insightful about a politically charged time of conflict — 1975, during the Troubles. But it’s about ordinary people trying to live their lives against that backdrop — falling in love, trying to work, caring for family. All of those things that we can relate to, set against that very particular backdrop. Louise’s voice is so funny, feisty, and sexy — quite unusual for a story about that period and place.

One of the reasons why I wanted to make Trespasses as a television series as opposed to a film was because I felt there was so much detail and texture in the characters and stories that we would end up losing so much in condensing it. A four-part series allowed us to really capture the material in the best possible way. There is also a very important climax within the story that was very well served by having that play at the end of episode three.

What I love about working with existing IP and novels is that you can work with fully fleshed out and rounded characters and backstories. That allows the director, screenwriter and actors to bring something that has real resonance to screen. It also means that you have the love for the book. We had a lot of cast and crew who had read and fallen in love with the book, and that passion comes through in the making of the series. It has given the series the elevation it deserves.

You’ve assembled an incredible cast. Can you tell us a bit about that process, and how Gillian, Lola and Tom came on board?
There’s actually a really funny story about Gillian Anderson joining the cast. At a dinner celebrating the launch of Louise Kennedy’s book, Gillian — who’s a friend of the publisher — was there. Louise literally walked up to her and said, “you’ll play Gina, won’t you?” Gillian was so taken aback that she basically said yes on the spot. She loved the book and wanted to support it, but I also think she saw in Gina a really interesting challenge as an actress. Gina is a beautiful, drunken wreck of a mother who has to find her way out of that in order to help her daughter. Gina has a wonderful arc within the series so I think it’s something Gillian found very appealing, plus she gets some really great 70s outfits.

We were also very lucky with Lola Petticrew. They were an upcoming actor when we cast them and despite us not having seen Say Nothing, we had heard about their casting. When we saw their audition tape, the director Dawn and I immediately knew we had found our Cushla. I think everyone can see what a talented actor Lola is. Cushla has a lot more softness and vulnerability than Lola’s character in Say Nothing, but there’s still a lot of that energy, feistiness and humour combined in this role. The central POV of Cushla’s character is what makes this story really special. 

The most challenging bit of casting for Trespasses was going to be finding Michael because the chemistry between Michael and Cushla has to be really strong. Michael is an older man, Cushla is a younger woman but that age difference had to be right so that it felt true to the story whilst at the same time, not feeling totally inappropriate. You had to understand why our Cushla fell totally in love with Michael. Tom has all of those qualities; intelligence, passion and that real ruffled masculinity. He also has a brilliant Northern Irish accent and that was interesting- Louise said it was the best she had ever heard. 

Could you describe the key characters and what they each bring to the story?
Cushla, the heroine of our story, is a compelling character - she’s funny, she’s got real energy yet she’s also a young woman constrained by the times, trying to navigate a world that wants to define and silence her. She can’t express herself freely or pursue love the way she wants to, because of the social and religious constraints of the time. Cushla is also a character with a lot of different flavours. She’s one woman when she’s behind the bar, and another woman when she’s at home with her difficult mother, and then she’s entirely different as a teacher who deeply cares for her students. Each version of her shows a new layer. Seeing the world through her eyes gives the story its intimacy and emotional depth.

Michael is the object of desire in our story. This is pretty unusual - to see an object of desire that’s an older man, portrayed from a young woman’s point of view - and I loved that. Michael is a very intelligent and successful barrister who loves ruffling feathers by taking on controversial cases. Through his role, we see a lot of the different flavours of what’s going on in the Troubles. The other side to him is a very experienced, worldly-wise and cultured man who can offer Cushla a very different perspective to what she’s used to. He opens up new worlds for her – older, married, Protestant – that create a challenge, but also a deeper appeal to Cushla.

Gina, who is Cushla’s mother, is kind of a monstrosity and at the same time she has to really draw audience’s sympathy, especially towards the end of the story. She brings a lot of comedy and a really sharp tongue. Ultimately, we see her drag Cushla’s life down with all the caring responsibilities that follow, but then we root for her when she decides to turn things around. Gillian captures that complexity beautifully.

There’s also Gerry and the McGeown family — could you talk a bit about them and their importance in the story?
Cushla has a very good friendship with fellow teacher Gerry, who brings out Cushla’s lighter, flirtatious and more playful side. He is essentially the expression of Cushla’s younger side. As the story unfolds, you come to understand why their relationship could never have been.

The McGeown family are brilliantly written by Louise in the novel, in that they manage to represent an awful lot of different facets of life in Northern Ireland at that time whilst being fantastic living, breathing characters who bring their own emotional, dramatic and comic elements. Cushla’s relationship with the young boy, Davy, is really beautiful and sweetly drawn. The mother is struggling as she’s a Protestant who’s married a Catholic, living in a Protestant estate, and is dealing with all of the prejudice that brings. The family constantly live under strain and threat, which brings darkness to the story of Trespasses in quite a surprising way. Cushla’s determination to help the McGeown family reveals her courage and moral strength — she’s willing to take real risks for them, and that makes her even more admirable.

The love story at the heart of Trespasses is both passionate and painful. How did you want audiences to feel about it?
I really hope audiences have a complicated relationship with Cushla and Michael’s love story. I want them to love the characters, root for them and feel their chemistry but at the same time, it’s a relationship you feel the need to condemn or question at times. They cross ethical lines, and there are moments where you wonder if they should be together. That tension makes their story more powerful and compelling. There’s a line where Cushla says, “we’re doomed, other than that we’re grand”. That perfectly sums it up — the audience sense from early on that something tragic might happen, but we don’t know how or to whom. That inevitability gives their love story real weight.

Could you tell us about the look and feel of the series?
I was delighted to have Dawn Shadforth come on board as the director of Trespasses. Her background in music promos and dramas is absolutely stunning, and she has been a real trailblazer over the years. I was really interested in her visual approach to it – she can’t shoot a dull frame. Dawn is constantly pushing for an interesting angle, layering emotion and texture into every shot. She wanted to capture an authentic 1975 Northern Ireland, but also bring poetry, mystery and atmosphere that would compel audiences. We both approached the project as if it were a long film in four parts — cinematic, elevated, but still authentic. 

Why should people watch Trespasses?
Because it’s a fresh female perspective on a time of conflict you thought you knew - and it’s compelling, romantic and very moving.