Interview with Louise Kennedy - Novelist and Exec Producer

How would you summarise the series?
Trespasses is the story of a young Catholic teacher, Cushla Lavery, who helps out in her family’s bar at night. There, she meets an older Protestant man, Michael — someone she shouldn’t fall in love with but does. It’s 1975 in the North of Ireland, and that love has consequences.

Could you tell us about how this adaptation came about and why Wildgaze Films were the right producers to bring it to screen? 
Well, I wrote the novel without even having a publisher, so I didn’t expect to see it in the world in book form let alone on television. I met Amanda Posey (Executive Producer) shortly before the book was due to be published and I was really thrilled when I heard she was interested in adapting it for screen. Amanda and the Wildgaze Films team had made a couple of films that I really admired, particularly for how they depicted young female characters, such as An Education with Carey Mulligan and Brooklyn with Saoirse Ronan. I was really excited to see what she might do with Cushla and the world she lived in.

Were you familiar with Ailbhe Keogan’s work before and how did you feel when you first read the script?
I am new to the world of film and television, but it turned out I knew Ailbhe’s work from the brilliant Bad Sisters. From our first conversation I knew she was the right person to adapt my book. Ailbhe was so engaged with the story and so determined to get it right I wasn’t surprised by how good her script was even in early draft stage.

Were you involved in the casting process? In particular, how did Gillian Anderson come to play Gina?
Yes, I was involved in various ways. I’d think of actors from Northern Ireland who might fit certain roles and though sometimes they weren’t available, quite a few of them were. One actor I really hoped would be available, and thankfully was, is Lalor Roddy who plays Jimmy O’Kane, one of the regulars who drinks in the Lavery’s family bar. 

Gillian Anderson’s casting came about after a dinner in London to celebrate the book. Gillian was there and after a few glasses of wine, she told me she loved the book, especially the character Gina. I half-jokingly said, “you’ll play her, won’t you?” and walked away thinking, “that’ll never happen”. It was quite something to be on set in Belfast on her last day of filming, seeing her clapped off by the crew. It was amazing.

What was it like seeing Lola, Tom and Gillian on set, bringing these characters to life?
When I was writing Trespasses, I had a clear idea of what everyone looked like, except maybe Cushla. Because the story is told so closely from her point of view, it was as if there was a camera on her shoulder. When I visited the set in Belfast and saw Lola as Cushla, Martin (McCann) as Cushla’s brother Eamon behind the bar and then Tom walking in as Michael, I burst into tears. They looked exactly as I had imagined. It was incredibly moving.

How did it feel to see the locations and set designs?
The first day I visited the set was quite early in the production timeline. They were on location in a bar in North Antrim. My family had a bar, and while it didn’t look exactly like ours, it looked like a bar from 1975… As if it was still trading. I wasn’t prepared for the level of detail the art department had gone to replicate things that were in the book. There was a Babycham fawn behind the counter, black-and-white whiskey dogs — even the costumes and hairstyles were perfect. The cigarette smoke, the men hunched at the bar, the kids in the corner — it all felt incredibly authentic.

Can you share some highlights from the development process? 
At first, I wasn’t entirely sure what being an Executive Producer meant. I had only just figured out what I was doing as a writer! However, during production, the producers started to reach out with questions about tiny details. I realised then how good the hands were that the book had fallen into. Every single element was being given huge attention. Sometimes it was even funny… I got a text one morning from Amanda asking me to suggest cheeky 1975 graffiti for a tunnel! 

Throughout the entire process, Ailbhe (Keogan) sent me scripts. If I had suggestions, they were always tiny - things like adjusting a phrase to sound more Northern. When I went to the readthrough, I was a bit apprehensive as there were so many people involved by then. The cast sat in a line facing us and as they read through the first two episodes, I felt really emotional. By the end, I was in tears… For the best reasons. The performances were so powerful, the casting so apt, and the energy in the room was incredible. I left feeling both emotional and excited.

What inspired you to write Trespasses? 
The initial spark to write Trespasses came after I was diagnosed with melanoma. I knew that I would have three months off work and to avoid thinking about the worst outcome, I gave myself a project — to write a thousand words a day. By the end of 11 weeks, I had about 64,000 words of something that could loosely be called a novel. Trespasses opens with Cushla arriving late to work in a bar, and that was something I had explored in earlier short stories set in the North during that time. None of those stories were romantic, so I think I just thought that if no one is ever going to read this, I might as well write a love story.

Could you explain more about the world the story inhabits, and the contrast of violence with romance and beauty? 
I think in any world there are contradictions, horror and hope side by side. Northern Ireland was no different. There was fear and suspicion, but people still got married, had friendships, had children. I was a child in primary school then, and even bomb scares felt like an adventure. So, it didn’t seem a stretch to imagine someone falling in love. In fiction and drama, conflict heightens everything, and there’s conflict both in Cushla’s relationship and in the society around her. The title Trespasses works on a few levels: moral lines, class lines, physical lines. Cushla crosses into a higher social class; both she and Michael cross militarised borders. Then there is the spiritual sense — from the Lord’s Prayer — where “trespasses” evokes sin. All of that felt fitting.

Could you talk about the other key relationships featured in the series? 
Davy McGeown is one of Cushla’s pupils. Early in the story, his father is attacked and left for dead in a sectarian attack. His family live in difficult circumstances, they’re in a big local authority estate and they’re the only Catholics, but his mother is Protestant, so they face hostility from neighbours. Families like the McGeown’s did exist during the Troubles, and people caught in the middle had a very hard time. Poverty and geography made things worse, those with means could sometimes shield themselves from it. 

Cushla teaches eight-year-olds, the age I was in 1975, and every class has a Davy: bright, observant, different. He is not popular, and Cushla instinctively wants to protect him. 

Gina, Cushla’s mother, has been widowed for a couple of years and isn’t coping well. No one in the family really is, but Gina is the one drinking heavily. She is self-indulgent in her grief, and that’s hard for Cushla. Gina has some of the best lines, she’s very funny. Those fraught mother-daughter relationships can still be deeply loving. Even when it’s frustrating, there’s a lot of patience and tolerance there.

What do you think makes Trespasses stand out against other dramas? 
Many portrayals of the Troubles focus on men with guns or military backrooms. Trespasses is about ordinary people trying to live their lives and constantly running into obstacles because of the world around them. It is not set in West Belfast; it’s more domestic, more every day. The drama happens in kitchens and classrooms, not just on the streets. I think that ordinariness, set against a backdrop of chaos, makes it stand out.

What do you hope audiences take away from the series?
I hope it is a testament to the resilience, humour and humanity of the people of the North of Ireland, who somehow managed to live their lives in a place riven by fear and suspicion.  I hope, too, that is a reminder of how far we have come from those awful days.

Why should people watch Trespasses?
Because it looks lush, it sounds beautiful and because the performance of each and every actor is extraordinary.