Trauma and Trespasses in new Gillian Anderson Troubles drama

Holywood, County Antrim in 1975 - five miles north-east of Belfast and 23 years before the conflict in Northern Ireland would end.

This is the backdrop for the new Gillian Anderson and Lola Petticrew-starring Channel 4 drama Trespasses, based on Louise Kennedy's award-winning novel, in which the town plays a significant role in a cross-community love affair.

It marks a return to Northern Ireland for both actors - Belfast-born Petticrew starred as IRA volunteer Dolours Price in the Disney Troubles-era drama Say Nothing while Anderson's serial killer thriller The Fall was also set in and around Belfast.

For Anderson, who plays the alcoholic and broken mother of Petticrew's character Cushla, the trauma of Northern Ireland's conflict is still something she detects "in the cells of everyone".

Trespasses explores cross-community forbidden love, not across the barricades but across the bar.

The story sees Lola Petticrew's Cushla, a 24-year-old Catholic school teacher pulling extra shifts in her family's pub, which serves the soldiers from a nearby barracks and other locals.

It's there she meets the upper-middle class Protestant barrister Michael Agnew, who has dedicated himself to representing a young Catholic man.

While their relationship is at the story's heart, it also has a lot to say about the conflict here and its impact on people.

The seriousness of that is not lost on Lola Petticrew.

"I take that responsibility really, really seriously," they said.

"I love home so much and I care about people at home so much and I want them to feel like their lives are being taken seriously and reflected with love and care and reverence.

"So it feels like a massive responsibility, but it's also a complete privilege. And if I only got to tell Irish stories for the rest of my life, I'd take it.

"I just want people to watch it and get from it what they need to get from it. I trust in the work that we've made. "

Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Cillian Murphy - being an Irish actor feels like particularly valuable currency right now, with a green wave of Irish talent splashing onto TV and film screens.

As far as Lola Petticrew is concerned, everyone's welcome.

"For me, the only prerequisite to be Irish is wanting to be Irish and feeling a connection to it, and I think the more people that want to feel connected to and express their Irishness is just all the better for us."