Trespasses tells the tale of an illicit love between schoolteacher Cushla Lavery (Lola Petticrew) and an older man, Michael Agnew (Tom Cullen).
She’s Catholic, he’s Protestant, and it’s 1975, the time during the Northern Ireland “troubles”, when the IRA ran rife, leading to people checking under their car for bombs, and everyone being subject to random stop-and-search at checkpoints, except by soldiers who carry guns, as opposed to regular police.
Matthew is a defender of IRA suspects, as well as getting involved of other individuals he shouldn’t be, so Cushla’s getting into a world of trouble.
I’ve felt sorry for her when she looks out for one kid at school because in the economic climate, his mum can’t afford to feed him properly – and she faces an uphill battle from another teacher because of the Catholics Vs Protestants situation getting in the way, as well as the endless hassle from her alcoholic mum, Gina (Gillian Anderson).
However, far less so when Cushla becomes upset to learn what a womaniser Matthew is, given that it takes two to tango.
Even still, Trespasses does take a bit of time to get into, and I’ll need to watch it again with subtitles on, either on TV or All4, given that the preview didn’t have subtitles at all and I just couldn’t catch some of the very garish Northern Irish accents.
Trespasses begins tomorrow night on Channel 4 at 9pm, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
All episodes are online now at All 4.
Cert: 
Running time: 45-60 minutes per episode (4 episodes)
Release date: November 9th 2025
Channel: Channel 4
Format: 2.39:1
Director: Dawn Shadfo
Producer: Maria Mulhall
Screenplay: Ailbhe Keogan
Novel: Louise Kennedyrth
Music: David Holmes, Brian Irvine
Cast:
Cushla Lavery: Lola Petticrew
Michael Agnew: Tom Cullen
Gina Lavery: Gillian Anderson
Eamonn Lavery: Martin McCann
Betty McGeown: Emily Tooffe
Gerry Harkin: Oisin Thompson
Victor McIntyre: Barry Ward
Tommy McGeown: Connloach Gough-Cunningham
Davy McGeown: Daithi O Haragain
Penny Scott: Lisa Dwyer Hogg
Father Slattery: Gary Lydon
Principal Bradley: David Ganly
Sgt Reid: Lorcan Cranitch
Jimmy McKenna: Lalor Roddy
Fidel: Paul Mallon
Minty: Anthony Burns
Mandy McGeown: Mary-Kate Page
Seomie McGeown: Andrew Porter
Private Jones: Forrest Bothwell
Private Harris: Connor Porter
Barry (newsreader): Thomas Finnegan
Kim Scott: Gerard McCarthy
Jane McIntyre: Claire J Loy
Sean: Theo Hyland
Brid: Amy McBride
Zoe: Erin Barry
Checkpoint Soldier 1: Jordan McKenzie
Checkpoint Soldier 2: Jake Lowe
Harry: James Goult
Joe: Conor O’Kane
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.