Troubles Drama ‘Trespasses’ Comes to PBS in October
PBS fills out its Sunday night schedule for Autumn 2026 with 'Trespasses'.
PBS has set a premiere date for its latest acquisition, the four-part drama Trespasses, a critically acclaimed series that won four Irish Film and Television Awards earlier this year, including Lead Actress in a Drama and Best Script - Drama.
Based on Louise Kennedy’s novel of the same name and set in 1970s Northern Ireland, the series follows a forbidden romance set against the backdrop of the sectarian violence known as the Troubles. Lola Petticrew (Say Nothing) stars as Cushla, a Catholic teacher who lives near Belfast. Lonely and still grieving the father she lost two years ago, she’s trying to hold her family together even as she struggles to manage the necessities of daily living. Her sharp-tongued mother, Gina (The Crown’s Gillian Anderson), isn’t much help, plagued by alcoholism and her own complicated feelings of loss and grief.
When Cushla meets a controversial (married) Protestant barrister named Michael (House of the Dragon’s Tom Cullen), it’s the kind of encounter that upends both of their lives. Caught between her loyalty to her community and the unexpected passion she’s found with someone she shouldn’t, she finds herself in an impossible (and increasingly dangerous) situation, in which her dreams are held hostage by events much larger than herself.
Tom Cullen, Lola Petticrew, and Gillian Anderson in "Trespasses" (Photos: Channel 4)
Here’s the series’ synopsis.
Cushla is a young Catholic schoolteacher whose life in 1975 Northern Ireland is shadowed by the Troubles. She meets and falls for Michael — an older, married Protestant barrister. Their affair is intoxicating and dangerous. As the forbidden love between Cushla and Michael deepens, violence looms and tensions rise. Cushla is pulled between duty and desire, family and freedom.
The four-part drama also stars Martin McCann (Blue Lights), Emily Taaffe (The Beast Must Die), Barry Ward (Protection), Lisa Dwyer Hogg (Blackshore), Lorcan Cranitch (Bloodlands), Frank Blake (Normal People), Gary Lydon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Lalor Roddy (Bodkin), and Oisin Thompson (My Left Nut).
Ailbhe Keogan (Bad Sisters) adapted Trespasses for the screen, with Dawn Shadforth (Mood) directing. Executive producers include Anderson, Kennedy, and Finola Dwyer, alongside Amanda Posey (An Education) for Wildgaze Films. The producer is Maria Mulhall (The Dry).
Trespasses will premiere on Sunday, September 20 at 10 p.m. ET on most local stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
All episodes are available for PBS Passport members starting on premiere day. New episodes will air weekly on Sundays through mid-October.
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